Update from Vincent Arbuckle, DDG, NZFS

Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to the July 2025 edition of Food News.

Earlier this month, I travelled to Hamilton as part of my regular stakeholder engagements and visited three food businesses: Spring Sheep, Radix Nutrition and Meyer Cheese. I also visited Christchurch and met with the teams at Leaft Foods, Queen Anne Chocolates and Dairyworks. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to visit these businesses and see how they keep food safe. These visits also demonstrate how the whole food safety system helps these businesses operate effectively and maintain safe and suitable food. My thanks to the verifiers who support these businesses; your work is vital to the integrity of our food safety system.

In this month’s newsletter, you will find that we have launched some great resources. These include:

• refreshed food safety resources for marae;
• an updated guide for exporting honey and bee products;
• an improved seafood roadmap; and
• new translations of the flyer on sending food to the Pacific Islands.

You can find the links to these resources further in this newsletter and on the MPI website. Please share these resources within your networks.

Ngā mihi nui,

Vincent Arbuckle
Deputy Director-General, New Zealand Food Safety

Food Act template review

The team is working to finalise the updated National Programmes (NP) 1, 2 and 3, My Food Plan (MFP) and Simply Safe and Suitable (SSS) including the ‘Making Biltong’ card. The ‘Making Biltong’ card will be available in SSS and MFP. We will provide an update when these are available.

Continuing Professional Development peer review walk-through sessions

Food Act Operations in the Food Risk Management Directorate are running two walk-through and Q&A sessions to help verifiers understand and prepare for the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) peer review.

The next session will be held on Tuesday, 5 August 2-3pm. Verifiers and CPD managers have received calendar invitations. Please contact foodacttraining@mpi.govt.nz if you have not received an invitation. A recording of the walk-through will also be available on the Academy.

Visit the Peer Reviewer Connect Forum

Are you are looking for someone to act as your peer reviewer or would you like to be a peer reviewer for someone else? The Peer Reviewer Connect Forum is a new feature in the Academy to help verifiers connect with other verifiers to complete this last CPD step. It’s live now on the Peer Review 2024-2025 page.​​​​​​​

Refreshed food safety resources for marae

We have refreshed several food safety resources for marae. These bilingual resources focus on some important food safety messages and serve as helpful reminders in the kīhini (kitchen) or wharekai (dining area). Please circulate to any marae you know of that might benefit from these resources. The resources can be found on the updated marae food safety webpage.

Correctly labelling spirits

We recently heard concerns that some products labelled as spirits for sale in New Zealand are not correctly labelled. The composition and labelling of spirits is covered under Standard 2.7.5 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

To be labelled as a spirit, the product must contain at least 37% alcohol by volume (or at least 35% alcohol for tequila). If the product contains more than 15%, but less than 37% alcohol by volume, it should be labelled as a liqueur (e.g. it should be called a gin liqueur, or whiskey liqueur).

If you are verifying National Programme registered bottle stores, please consider checking this.

Updated guide for exporting honey and bee products

We recently updated our popular guide for exporting honey and bee products. You can download the guide from our website: Exporting honey and bee products – A guide to meeting the rules.

The guide outlines the Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI) requirements for exporting bee products and will be particularly useful for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. This guide is a go-to resource, whether businesses are just starting out or looking to expand their honey business overseas. We want to make it easier for beekeepers, operators, and exporters to understand their requirements and follow the right steps.

Other useful resources on the MPI website include:

• Get help with exporting
• How to start exporting
• Steps to exporting honey and bee products

Please share these resources with anyone who might be interested.  

Refreshed Seafood Roadmap

We recently refreshed the Seafood Roadmap, a handy guide that links to relevant legislation under the Animal Products Act, Food Act, Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code and other legislation that is important for seafood producers and processors. It also includes links to forms and templates and importantly, guidance about how to meet the requirements. The guide can be found on the MPI website here.

Connected with businesses sending food from New Zealand to the Pacific Islands?

The MPI Exporter Help team developed a flyer, Sending Food to the Pacific Islands, to help people (both consumers and businesses) understand what they need to do to send food to the Pacific Islands.

There are now three new translated versions available:

• Cook Islands Māori
• Samoan
• Tongan

Each of the flyers are available on our Sending food overseas from NZ webpage, along with other useful information and resources.

Please share this information with anyone who might be interested. If you have any questions, you can email exporterhelp@mpi.govt.nz.

Sign up for Food & Water Safety Workshop - Wellington

As part of the SETAC-ACTRA Conference in August, NZFS are joining forces with Water NZ to run a one-day workshop in Wellington.

Join NZFS and Water NZ for an introduction to chemical hazards, learn basic principles, what to do when things go wrong, and network with peers facing similar challenges. Ideal for risk managers, environmental health professionals, and food business risk assessors.

Details:

• Monday, 25 August 2025
• James Cook Hotel, Wellington
• Practical, accessible, no online component
• Sign up here: SETAC ACTRA 2025.

Emerging food allergy risk webinar series

NZFS will host the fourth and final emerging food allergy risk webinar for this year. Dr Anna Nowak-Węgrzyn, Professor of Paediatrics at the New York University R. Grossman School of Medicine, New York, USA, will speak on food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) – an emerging non-IgE-mediated food allergic disorder.

Details:

• 12pm, Thursday, 14 August
• Register here: Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES)

Food Importing 101: Understanding the Basics of Food Importing webinar

Are you planning to import food into New Zealand, or do you work with food importers? Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refresh your understanding, we invite you and importers you work with to join our upcoming webinar, Food Importing 101: Understanding the Basics of Food Importing.

This session will provide a high-level overview of the key steps and responsibilities involved in importing food, with a focus on food safety.

We’ll cover:

• Key food safety responsibilities as an importer
• Understanding what to expect at the border
• Accessing tools and support to help you succeed.

The webinar will be held on Thursday 31 July 2025, from 11-11:30am. This includes time for questions and answers. You can register here: register for the online food importing webinar.

We look forward to seeing you there. If you have any questions, please email us at foodimporteradvice@mpi.govt.nz.