Update from Vincent Arbuckle, DDG, NZFS

Kia ora koutou,

In our previous edition of Food News, we talked about NZFS’ presence at the Super Local Conference at the end of August. Our teams from the Export Regulatory Advice Service and Food Risk Management appreciated conversations with representatives from Territorial Authorities around the country. I’m also delighted that we had an excellent response to our recent “How to be a safe importer” webinar, where we had over 300 people dial in and hear about the regulatory requirements for importers.

Recently, I attended the Global Regulators Summit in New Delhi hosted by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). At the Summit, we were able to share insights and experiences of the food safety system between our countries.

New Zealand’s food production system is uniquely placed in the world, making us a net exporter of foods to many countries in the global market, and enjoying several competitive advantages. Our evolving food safety system is key to achieving and maintaining consumer confidence and international trust in our food production and exports – and we continue to be recognised by international peers for our excellence in food safety.

My international colleagues were impressed by our partnership with Territorial Authorities, which is a great strength in our regulatory model, improving the management of New Zealand’s food safety system.

Our unique food safety regulatory system improves management of the national food safety system and provides a contestable market for verification services within the private sector and enables choices for food businesses and regional food safety coverage with Territorial Authority verifiers auditing local food businesses.

New Zealand’s regulatory system effectively maintains a meaningful relationship with businesses, offering support and guidance to navigate the food system and provide safe and suitable kai for all.

Ngā mihi nui,

Vincent Arbuckle
Deputy Director-General, New Zealand Food Safety

Food Act verifiers - upcoming deadlines for Continuing Professional Development

A reminder that 30 September marks the end of the 2023/2024 continuing professional development (CPD) year. The following requirements apply and must be completed by 30 September 2024:

• Completion of learning activities;
• Completion of timecards; and
• Peer review completed and submitted.

Deadlines for the 2024/2025 CPD year

To be completed by 30 November 2024:

• Complete the self-assessment form;
• Complete the learning plan(s); and
• Select your points target.

CPD is compulsory for all verifiers who verify food businesses under the Food Act 2014. If you are working towards becoming a recognised verifier, you will need to participate in the CPD programme once you receive recognition. The first step after you achieve recognition is to register for access to the Food Safety Academy on the MPI website.

Notification of Academy offline period

To make the necessary changes to the Food Safety Academy for the new CPD year, the Academy will be offline between Tuesday 1 October to Wednesday 23 October 2024.

New compulsory learning module for the 2024/2025 CPD year 

NZFS is introducing a compulsory learning activity for the upcoming CPD year. The activity is the eLearning module ‘Good Regulatory Practice’ which has been available in the Food Safety Academy since June 2024. Verifiers must complete this before the end of the upcoming CPD year (2024/25 CPD year). Compulsory learning identified by MPI is a requirement under the Food Notice: Requirements for Recognised Agencies and Persons (6.3 (3)). If you have not already completed this module, please include it in your learning plan for 2024/2025.

National Programmes and My Food Plan

We are currently reviewing and amending the Food Act National Programme guidance and My Food Plan template. The updates will include a new procedure for Biltong. Many of the recent updates to the Simply Safe & Suitable template will be applied to the National Programmes and My Food Plan where appropriate. We anticipate that the updated programmes and plan will be available early next year.

A new procedure for Biltong

We have completed the first draft of a new procedure for Biltong, and need your help to ensure we have a list of all current manufacturers. We also want to make sure that the new biltong card is accurate and easy to understand, so we will be testing with a sample of businesses and verifiers.

Registration authorities - please email us at foodactinfo@mpi.govt.nz your biltong businesses and verifiers and let us know if you’d like to test the new procedure. 

Reporting foodborne illness

Registration authorities and verifiers - please remind food business operators to direct customers who are complaining of foodborne illness to their GP if they are unwell, and the National Public Health Service (NPHS). NPHS can identify the source of illness through interviews with the cases and if there is a food premises implicated, they will refer to NZFS to investigate.

NZFS has been investigating an outbreak of norovirus in oysters sourced from Waiheke Island. This has led to a consumer-level recall of certain batches of the oysters and temporary closure of the implicated farms.

Further information on the recall can be found on the NZFS recalled food products list webpage.

Call for food businesses to donate food

The food recovery network is noticing a steady reduction in food donations from food businesses. Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance (AFRA) wants food businesses who may not have considered donating food to understand the opportunities and safeguards presented by the ‘Good Samaritan’ clause in the Food Act 2014 when donating food through its member organisations. Please consider promoting this option to your food business customers. Information about donating food is available here.

We recently met with representatives from the food recovery sector, including AFRA, Kiwi Harvest, and Kaibosh. AFRA support over 30 food rescue organisations around the country that have a range of operating models for distributing rescued and donated food through community organisations, community kitchens, foodbanks and freestore organisations providing food direct to individuals. This network of over 1,000 recipient organisations distributes the equivalent of 29 million meals annually to those in need.

Reducing food waste in New Zealand is important to NZFS. Food recovery organisations have free access to the AFRA Food Safety Guide, which assists them in implementing good food safety practices to ensure donated food remains safe and suitable for recipients. The guide includes links to NZFS published information.

Ordering physical copies of Simply Safe & Suitable and the Toolkit

We are in the process of making updates to our physical resources order portal and this has meant temporarily pausing ordering of Simply Safe & Suitable and the toolkit. While we are unable to fill orders for physical copies at present, all digital resources are available on the MPI website to view, download and print.

We will let you know when you can order physical resources again. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and understand this may affect your plans. We appreciate your patience.