Collaboration boosts food safety on both sides of the Tasman

Food safety on both sides of the Tasman will be boosted by the renewal of an agreement signed by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) and the New South Wales Food Authority (NSWFA).

NZFSA chief executive Andrew McKenzie says the two parties have long had a strong working relationship, but a revised Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed recently will rejuvenate the existing ties.

“Collaboration provides cost effectiveness as we can share knowledge and work together on specific issues,” Andrew says.

In the past NZFSA has learnt a great deal from NSWFA’s approach to working with councils who inspect food businesses in New South Wales. In this regard, NZFSA has borrowed NSWFA’s approach of creating regional council groups, the so-called clusters. NZFSA meets regularly with the New Zealand cluster groups in order to ensure good communication, standardised inspection audit practices and to train council staff.

Both authorities have a consumer-focused, science-based approach to food safety and plan to work closely on developing policy, standards, systems and science. They will also share information on communications, operations, compliance and enforcement.

Andrew says collaborating in these areas could have a significant impact on the delivery of a safe and suitable food supply in each country. ”Our working relationship will benefit consumers both here and across the Tasman.”

NSWFA chief executive Alan Coutts said both agencies were unique in their scope as they were responsible for ensuring food safety from primary production through to consumers.

“Food safety goes beyond national and state borders, so it makes sense to work closely with our neighbours to share knowledge and intelligence to combat the threat of foodborne illness,” Mr Coutts said.

Australia is New Zealand’s biggest trading partner and New South Wales is Australia’s most populated state.

NZFSA has similar agreements with the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency, Health Canada and Food Standards Australia New Zealand.