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My Food Rules
A huge thank you to everyone who provided feedback to help us build our new online food business registration tool (which had the working title What I Need To Do, or WIN2D). We also welcomed suggestions for naming this tool – and the winner is My Food Rules (MFR), which is now live! We will officially launch MFR and the new custom Food Control Plan, My Food Plan, in Nelson on 19 July 2019.
CPD Programme
We’re very excited to announce that we will begin rolling out the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme for Food Act 2014 verifiers in July.
CPD delivers benefits to the individual, organisation, profession, stakeholders and your clients. The programme has been structured to ensure there is enough flexibility to make it accessible, achievable, affordable and relevant.
Remote Verification
With the first two groups of verifiers having commenced the training to become recognised as remote verifiers, we are looking forward to the launch of Remote Verification in Nelson on 19 July 2019.
Remote Verification takes the place of a verifier needing to visit the business in person and is undertaken using technology e.g. a smart phone, Skype and broadband.
TRAINING
FSO Training Needs
We are keen to get an understanding of Food Safety Officer training needs from Territorial Authorities for the upcoming year, in particular those wanting to complete the face-to-face training module. If you or your staff are keen to receive the training module in the next six months, please contact Mike Webster. Read more.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Verification Time Frames for Deemed Businesses
There has been some confusion over when food businesses, that have held deemed Food Control Plans (FCPs), should be verified. For a business operating a deemed custom FCP that has had a verification and was assigned an 18-month verification frequency, several outcomes are possible. Read more.
Kombucha Verification & Managing Non-Compliance
The alcohol content of kombucha has been the subject of a number of complaints, investigations and subsequent recalls. We would appreciate it if you would be mindful of this during verification. Do your manufacturers know what needs to be on the label? Read more.
Creamed Honey
This is a reminder that extractors and packers of honey need to register for a National Programme 1, unless registered under the Animal Products Act. If the honey undergoes additional processing in order to produce creamed honey, the processor falls into the Manufacturers of Shelf-Stable Condiments sector and needs to register for a National Programme 2. To find out what food rules are needed, visit My Food Rules.
Co-Regulatory Priorities Panel Seeking New Member
Want to represent your fellow Territorial Authorities and facilitate the growth of co-regulation among local and central government in administering the Food Act? The Co-regulatory Priorities Panel (CPP) is seeking expressions of interest for new representation. If you're interested in getting involved as a CPP panel member, please contact the panel secretariat by 30 July 2019. Read more.
Ski Clubs & Registration
It’s ski time again. And with that comes questions around whether or not ski clubs need to register under the Food Act 2014. It’s not always clear, so we’ve compiled a table to clarify things for you. In summary, if a ski club provides accommodation (including food) for an additional fee, then they will need to register under the appropriate risk-based measure. Read more.
OrganicFarmNZ Section 40 Application
OrganicFarmNZ (OFNZ) has developed a Food Control Plan (FCP) that integrates Food Act and OFNZ certification requirements. OFNZ has requested approval of this FCP under section 40 of the Food Act. We have evaluated the OFNZ plan to ensure it meets the requirements of the Food Act. As part of the approval process, a public consultation was held. Read more.
Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award
We’re excited to announce that the winner of the 2019 Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award is food safety trainer Rosie Waller from Rotorua. New Zealand Food Safety's Bryan Wilson presented the award at the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology Good Food 4 Conference Awards Dinner in Christchurch on 3 July. Read more.
EVENTS
Food Safety Trio Launch
Join us on 19 July in Nelson to launch an amazing new trio of technology-driven tools – making it faster, easier and more affordable for NZ businesses to follow food rules! Remote Verification (for remote food businesses), My Food Rules (online business registration tool) and My Food Plan (new Custom Food Control Plan) were co-designed with food businesses, councils and consumers. To RSVP, contact us by 5pm, 17 July. Read more.
Digital Aunty debuts at Auckland Food Show
If you plan on attending the Auckland Food Show (25-28 July), come and visit the New Zealand Food Safety site. At the event, Aunty Mere will be making her glamourous digital debut to educate attendees on how to practice food safety properly. Aunty is a joint venture between New Zealand Food Safety and Wellington-based story technology company Vaka Interactiv. Read more.
PUBLICATIONS
Updated Hemp Guidance
The guidance document A Guide to Hemp Seeds as Food has been updated to clarify the rules that need to be met to import and sell food products containing hemp seeds. This guide helps you to know what’s allowed for food use and how to label it. Thank you for the feedback that alerted us to the confusion in our original guidance.
Case Guidance for Crayfish, Crabs and Kōura
New guidance has been released about the way we advise people to kill crustaceans (crayfish, crabs and freshwater kōura). In October 2018, regulation 11 of the Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations came into force, laying out penalties for anybody killing crustaceans for commercial purposes without making them insensible before killing them. Read more.
What’s New on Web
To accommodate My Food Rules and My Food Plan, we’re making some improvements to the functionality of our Food Act 2014 web pages. The key sections that are under review are Food Control Plans and National Programmes. Please keep sharing with us feedback about how to improve the Food Act pages Read more.
