The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (ANZFSC) is the legal code governing food safety and food labelling in Australia and New Zealand. [1] [2] It is administered by Food Standards Australia New Zealand. [3] Officially, it is issued as Australian secondary legislation and then adopted by New Zealand secondary legislation. [4] It contains certain chapters labelled as "Australia only" which do not apply in New Zealand, and the New Zealand government has the discretion to refuse to adopt amendments which it disagrees with–an example is New Zealand's decision not to adopt the new Kava standard which significantly reduced the legal availability of Kava, on the grounds that doing so interfered with the cultural rights of Pasifika peoples. [5] Within Australia, enforcement of the Code for domestically produced products is primarily the responsibility of the state and territory governments, with the federal government's enforcement role focused on food imports. [6]
In 1995, Australia and New Zealand signed the Joint Food Standards Treaty, which provided the legal basis for the Code. In New Zealand, the Code was adopted in February 2001 and entered fully into force in December 2002. [7]
The Code is divided into four chapters: [8]
The Code's cheese-making standards have been criticised as a "a wholly dysfunctional combination of prescriptive and performance-based regulation". [9]
A flavoring, also known as flavor or flavorant, is a food additive used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the chemoreceptors of the gustatory and olfactory systems. Along with additives, other components like sugars determine the taste of food.
The United States Food and Drug Administration is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, caffeine products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), cosmetics, animal foods & feed and veterinary products.
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives, such as vinegar (pickling), salt (salting), smoke (smoking) and sugar (crystallization), have been used for centuries to preserve food. This allows for longer-lasting foods, such as bacon, sweets or wines.
Kava or kava kava is a plant in the pepper family, native to the Pacific Islands. The name kava is from Tongan and Marquesan, meaning 'bitter.’ Other names for kava include ʻawa (Hawaiʻi), ʻava (Samoa), yaqona or yagona (Fiji), sakau (Pohnpei), seka (Kosrae), and malok or malogu. Kava can refer to either the plant or a beverage made from its root. The beverage has sedative, anesthetic, psychoactive and mildly euphoriant properties. It is consumed throughout the Pacific Ocean cultures of Polynesia, including Hawaii and Vanuatu, Melanesia, some parts of Micronesia, such as Pohnpei and Kosrae, and the Philippines.
In the U.S. and Canada, the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) is used in nutrition labeling on food and dietary supplement products to indicate the daily intake level of a nutrient that is considered to be sufficient to meet the requirements of 97–98% of healthy individuals in every demographic in the United States. While developed for the US population, it has been adopted by Canada.
In general, compliance means conforming to a rule, such as a specification, policy, standard or law. Compliance has traditionally been explained by reference to deterrence theory, according to which punishing a behavior will decrease the violations both by the wrongdoer and by others. This view has been supported by economic theory, which has framed punishment in terms of costs and has explained compliance in terms of a cost-benefit equilibrium. However, psychological research on motivation provides an alternative view: granting rewards or imposing fines for a certain behavior is a form of extrinsic motivation that weakens intrinsic motivation and ultimately undermines compliance.
Dangerous goods (DG) are substances that are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment during transport. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials. An example for dangerous goods is hazardous waste which is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), formerly Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA), is the statutory authority in the Australian Government Health portfolio that is responsible under the Joint Food Standards Treaty for developing the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, which contains food standards for Australia and New Zealand.
Kava cultures are the religious and cultural traditions of western Oceania which consume kava. There are similarities in the use of kava between the different cultures and islands, but each one also has its own traditions.
Plant milk is a category of non-dairy beverages made from a water-based plant extract for flavoring and aroma. Nut milk is a subcategory made from nuts, while other plant milks may be created from grains, pseudocereals, legumes, seeds or coconut. Plant-based milks are consumed as alternatives to dairy milk and provide similar qualities, such as a creamy mouthfeel, as well as a bland or palatable taste. Many are sweetened or flavored.
The law in the United Kingdom on food information and labelling is multifaceted and is spread over many reforms and parliamentary acts. UK law is based on the relevant European Union rules, chiefly Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, which is implemented in the UK in the Food Information Regulations 2014, the Food Information (Wales) Regulations 2014, the Food Information (Scotland) Regulations 2014 and the Food Information Regulations 2014. Regulations apply to the labelling of goods pre-packaged for sale and to the provision of information regarding non-prepacked (loose) foods.
The nutrition facts label is a label required on most packaged food in many countries, showing what nutrients and other ingredients are in the food. Labels are usually based on official nutritional rating systems. Most countries also release overall nutrition guides for general educational purposes. In some cases, the guides are based on different dietary targets for various nutrients than the labels on specific foods.
Food safety is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food is known as a food-borne disease outbreak. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potential health hazards. In this way, food safety often overlaps with food defense to prevent harm to consumers. The tracks within this line of thought are safety between industry and the market and then between the market and the consumer. In considering industry-to-market practices, food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods. In considering market-to-consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer. Food safety, nutrition and food security are closely related. Unhealthy food creates a cycle of disease and malnutrition that affects infants and adults as well.
The Commerce Commission is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and regulatory responsibility for areas such as electricity and gas, telecommunications, dairy products and airports. It is an independent Crown entity established under the Commerce Act 1986. Although responsible to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, the Commission is run independently from the government, and is intended to be an impartial promotor and enforcer of the law.
New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS), or Haumaru Kai Aotearoa, was the New Zealand government body responsible for food safety, and is the controlling authority for imports and exports of food and food-related products. In April 2012 it was merged into the Ministry for Primary Industries.
The regulation of genetic engineering varies widely by country. Countries such as the United States, Canada, Lebanon and Egypt use substantial equivalence as the starting point when assessing safety, while many countries such as those in the European Union, Brazil and China authorize GMO cultivation on a case-by-case basis. Many countries allow the import of GM food with authorization, but either do not allow its cultivation or have provisions for cultivation, but no GM products are yet produced. Most countries that do not allow for GMO cultivation do permit research. Most (85%) of the world's GMO crops are grown in the Americas. One of the key issues concerning regulators is whether GM products should be labeled. Labeling of GMO products in the marketplace is required in 64 countries. Labeling can be mandatory up to a threshold GM content level or voluntary. A study investigating voluntary labeling in South Africa found that 31% of products labeled as GMO-free had a GM content above 1.0%. In Canada and the US labeling of GM food is voluntary, while in Europe all food or feed which contains greater than 0.9% of approved GMOs must be labelled.
The Food Act is a New Zealand Act of Parliament passed in 2014. It came into force on 1 March 2016 and progressively replaced the Food Act 1981 for the next three years.
Food safety in New Zealand is a concern by the general public and the government takes measures to regulate it. The estimated cost to the country in 2009 of the six foodborne illnesses campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, norovirus, yersiniosis, STEC and listeriosis was NZ$161 million.
Food safety in Australia concerns the production, distribution, preparation, and storage of food in Australia to prevent foodborne illness, also known as food safety. Food Standards Australia New Zealand is responsible for developing food standards for Australia and New Zealand.
Since the 1980s New Zealand and Australia have used genetic engineering for different purposes, including the production of food. Each country has faced controversy in this area and used a variety of legal measures to allay concerns and move toward the safe implementation of the technology. As of 2024 many issues requiring ongoing review remain in Oceania, in line with European data that showed "questions of consumer confidence and trust" and negative perceptions of genetically modified food as unhealthy and the technology as a process likely to damage the environment. Australian and New Zealand both require labeling so consumers can exercise choice between foods that have genetically modified, conventional, or organic origins.