NZFSA imported foods programme enhanced

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) is confident that imported foods are ably managed under New Zealand's current import system but this will be further enhanced with the introduction of a new programme that will bring imported food safety management into line with updated domestic systems.

"The proposed changes will provide consumers with greater assurance that imports meet New Zealand's food safety and suitability standards" says Glen Neal, NZFSA's Assistant Director (Food Service, Sale and Import)

"While our monitoring programmes tell us that New Zealand food is exceptionally good and that importers are meeting their obligations for ensuring the products they bring into the country are safe, we know that the improvements we hope to be able to introduce in the next 12 to 18 months will provide the increased level of confidence we are all seeking," says Glen.

Results from NZFSA imported food testing programme confirm that recent fears about imported food have not been borne out. However, NZFSA is looking forward to the changes it is planning to implement following its recent extensive review of the imported foods programme.

"The new programme better reflects the diversity of imported foods New Zealand consumers now want to buy," says Glen. "It reflects our changing and more sophisticated tastes, the range of countries we import from, and the ever-changing international trading environment.

"It moves away from routine testing of a prescribed list of high-risk foods at the border, to one that sees foods grouped into three levels of regulatory interest – high, medium and low – each of which has different import requirements, depending on the product's potential risk to human health.

Although a recent review of NZFSA's current imports system did not identify any major or urgent safety risks, it did highlight the way in which the system focuses heavily on monitoring a small number of high risk foods. "Each time one of these products is imported, it is checked for its risk factor – whether it's bacterial, chemical or physical – before it's released for sale," says Glen. "This does little to recognise those importers who already have mechanisms in place to ensure all the food they import is safe and suitable.

"The new programme will align with the new Food Act and become more responsive and flexible. It will recognise those countries that have food safety controls that meet or are equivalent to our own."

Importers of low regulatory interest foods, such as grains, pulses and most canned products will operate under a national programme that will require them to comply with certain obligations. They will need to register with NZFSA and meet generic requirements relating to transportation, storage and record keeping. NZFSA can request and review this information at any time.

Those importers of foods considered of medium regulatory interest, which may include some canned or processed fruit and vegetables, will operate a Food Control Plan. This means they'll need to record the steps they take to manage the food safety and suitability of their products, and those steps will be evaluated and monitored by NZFSA.

In addition they may also have to meet specific requirements that relate directly to the type of food they're importing, as well as the obligations set out under the national programme.

Importers of high interest regulatory foods, which would include raw milk products such as Roquefort cheese and bivalve molluscan shellfish (ie: those that have two shells, such as oysters, clams and mussels), will only be able to import from countries or regions that have established pre-clearance arrangements with NZFSA, in the same way that NZFSA has negotiated pre-established government certification with certain countries for exported New Zealand foods.

They will also have to operate under a Food Control Plan and comply with specific requirements that relate to the food, in addition to the obligations mentioned earlier. (As part of the preparatory work for the new programme NZFSA has already implemented specific import standards for bivalve molluscan shellfish and Roquefort cheese.)

To ensure the programme remains flexible and responsive to emerging food safety issues, foods can be placed on a scanning list which will permit additional temporary monitoring measures to immediately be put in place when risks are identified or when gaps in our knowledge arise, irrespective of the categorisation of that food. These measures could take the form of test-and-hold or test-and-release, or other systems that would continue until further decisions could be made on how the food should be treated.

A framework for determining the overall level of regulatory interest and the standards that may apply will be based on scientific risk assessments of the particular food/hazard combination. This framework is nearing completion.

"These assessments will identify the level of risk and the appropriate points in the food chain where it can best be managed – which may well be in the exporting country before it even reaches New Zealand," says Glen. "This way we will be confident that nothing arrives in New Zealand until we are satisfied that it meets or is equivalent to our own food safety standards."

Ongoing monitoring will ensure the programme remains effective and responsive. A comprehensive communication system will also be put in place to ensure importers know and understand their obligations and where they can go to get relevant information.

To kick-off the new programme, an Imported Food Control Plan template is set to be available early next year. There will be a one-year change-over period once the new Food Bill is enacted. While the timing of this will be up to Parliament, it is hoped that parts of it will be enacted by the end of next year. This means the transition period for imported food will run till late 2009, by which time all importers should be registered under the new system.

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