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Processed food & retail sale - Dairy food safety programmes

8 September 2006

Introduction

Guidance Material

Dairy Product Specific Guidance Material

Food Safety Programme Approval Process

Introduction

The manufacture of dairy products for sale falls within the ambit of the Animal Products Act (APA) 1999. The APA gives domestic dairy manufacturers (supplying only the New Zealand and/or Australian market) the option of operating under either a registered Risk Management Programme (RMP) or a Food Safety Programme (FSP) approved in accordance with section 8G of the Food Act 1981.

The Food Hygiene Regulations 1974 (FHR) are not a legal option for dairy manufacturers.

For manufacturers with milking animals (cows, sheep or goats) the milk harvesting activities are required to be carried out under a registered Risk Management Programme (RMP). It is not a legal option to manufacture cheese from milk that hasn't been harvested under an RMP. It is not a legal option to include milking activities in a Food Safety Programme or under the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974.

A RMP can cover both milking and manufacture operations, or it is an option to choose to have a RMP for the milking operation and a FSP for manufacturing operations – however, please be aware that choosing to operate with both a RMP and a FSP will generally result in two sets of compliance related activity (e.g. audits) and associated cost.

Please also note that the RMP for milk harvesting activities will need to cover all intended uses for the milk harvested. That is, if some milk is to be supplied to a manufacturing company (e.g. Fonterra, Westland) and some is retained to be used, for example, for manufacture of specialist cheese on the farm the milk harvesting RMP owned/supplied and managed by the manufacturing company will not necessarily be sufficient to meet all regulatory requirements, and further advice should be sought from NZFSA.

Guidance Material

The technical requirements for dairy manufacturers are essentially the same, whether operating under a RMP or an FSP. These requirements are contained in the Animal Products (Dairy Processing Specifications) Notice 2006 [PDF 166K ]and the Animal Products (Dairy) Approved Criteria, with additional guidance material available in the Operational Guidelines (/dairy/publications/guidelines/index.htm) section of our website.

The Heat Treatment Code of Practice applies to heat treatment of dairy material and dairy products intended for further processing and sale in or export from New Zealand. It covers the approval, design, fabrication, installation, layout and operation of heat treatment equipment and systems to ensure the standard of performance is sufficient to ensure dairy material and dairy products are fit for their intended purpose.

Manufacturers may adopt the Code of Practice as the means of demonstrating that risks are being appropriately managed in respect of dairy processing activities.

Practical guidance on how to write a food safety programme for your business is available in this document  /processed-food-retail-sale/fsp/fsp-look-like.pdf

Dairy Product Specific Guidance Material

Cheese

An Interim Code of Practice for Specialist Cheeses is available to members of the Specialist Cheesemakers Association, and is recognised as as a document providing a sound basis for the design, implementation, and operation of either a Food Safety Programme or a Risk Management Programme, for a business processing those products referred to in the code.

Yoghurt

Work is currently underway on adding other products such as fermented products to the Specialist Cheeses code, and guidance material is included on this website for yoghurt makers that wish to develop a food safety programme: Guidance Material for the development of a Food Safety Programme (Food Act 1981) for Yoghurt Manufacture [PDF 89K ]

Ice Cream

An Interim Code of Practice for Ice Cream is available (/animalproducts/publications/code-of-practice/copicecreamfinal.htm) and recognised as a document providing a sound basis for the design, implementation, and operation of a Food Safety Programme or a Risk Management Programme, for a business processing those products referred to in the code.

Food Safety Programme Approval Process

This section includes information for getting a Dairy Food Safety Programme (FSP) approved.

There are two processes available for approval of FSP’s:

Steps to Approval PDF (/processed-food-retail-sale/exemption/exemption-process.pdf) [PDF 22K ] In addition to submitting the FSP for approval, where the dairy process includes a heat treatment process the applicant is required to submit evidence that the heat treatment process meets the requirements of and has been evaluated in accordance with the Animal Products (Dairy Processing Specifications) Notice 2006 [PDF 166K ]

Application forms are included in this booklet and are also available from your local public health unit.

/processed-food-retail-sale/exemption/index.htm

Auditors and PHU’s will generally use one of the following checklists as a basis for determining whether a dairy FSP meets regulatory requirements.

Ice Cream Checklist [PDF 36K ]

Cheese Checklist [PDF 33K ]

Hazard Database

• Hazard Database