New Zealand Food Safety Authority

Last updated
Food Safety Authority
Te Pou Oranga Kai O Aotearoa
Agency overview
Jurisdiction New Zealand
Minister responsible
Parent agency Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Website http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), or Te Pou Oranga Kai O Aotearoa, was the New Zealand government body responsible for food safety. NZFSA was also 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.

New Zealand Country in Oceania

New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.

Food Substances consumed as nutrition

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for an organism. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells to provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing, managing and regulating the farming, fishing, food, animal welfare, biosecurity, and forestry sectors of New Zealand's primary industries. In December 2017, Agriculture, Food Safety and Biosecurity Minister Damien O'Connor announced that the Ministry of Primary Industries would be reorganised into four entities: Fisheries New Zealand, Forestry New Zealand, Biosecurity New Zealand and New Zealand Food Safety, existing within the one ministry.

Contents

The NZFSA administered legislation covering:

Animal kingdom of motile multicellular eukaryotic heterotrophic organisms

Animals are multicellular eukaryotic organisms that form the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development. Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described—of which around 1 million are insects—but it has been estimated there are over 7 million animal species in total. Animals range in length from 8.5 millionths of a metre to 33.6 metres (110 ft) and have complex interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The category includes humans, but in colloquial use the term animal often refers only to non-human animals. The study of non-human animals is known as zoology.

Plant multicellular eukaryote of the kingdom Plantae

Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, plants were treated as one of two kingdoms including all living things that were not animals, and all algae and fungi were treated as plants. However, all current definitions of Plantae exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes. By one definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae, a group that includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns and their allies, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae, but excludes the red and brown algae.

In July 2007 the NZFSA was separated from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to form a new Public Service Department. [1] On 1 July 2010, the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) was amalgamated back into the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. [2]

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was a state sector organisation of New Zealand which dealt with matters relating to agriculture, forestry and biosecurity. It was commonly known by its acronym, "MAF".

Food Bill 160-2

Food Bill 160-2 was introduced on 26 May 2010 to make some fundamental changes [3] to New Zealand's domestic food regulatory regime. Significantly, for an export-led economic recovery for New Zealand, the domestic food regulatory regime is the platform for exports. [4] The New Zealand domestic standard is used as the basis for negotiating equivalence arrangements with trading partners. This minimizes the excessive importing country requirements that may be imposed but which do not go to food safety. If passed into law and fully implemented, it would replace the Food Act 1981 and the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974. Food Bill will also make consequential amendments to the Animal Products Act 1999 and the Wine Act 2003 to improve the interface of regulatory processes across food sectors.

MAF (through NZFSA) managed New Zealand's participation in Codex Alimentarius and set strategic priorities which ensure that Codex standards have the widest possible application. [5]

Codex Alimentarius collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines, and other recommendations relating to foods, food production, and food safety

The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines, and other recommendations relating to foods, food production, and food safety.

See also

Food safety in New Zealand

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 Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), formerly Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA), is the governmental body responsible for developing food standards for Australia and New Zealand.

Food Act 1981

The Food Act 1981 is a current Act of Parliament in New Zealand. It is administered by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Related Research Articles

Food and Drug Administration agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services

The Food and Drug Administration is a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food safety, tobacco 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. As of 2017, 3/4th of the FDA budget is paid by people who consume pharmaceutical products, due to the Prescription Drug User Fee Act.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, animals, and plants, which enhance the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy. The agency was created in April 1997 by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act for the purpose of combining and integrating the related inspection services of three separate federal government departments: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Health Canada. The establishment of the CFIA consolidated the delivery of all federal food safety, animal health, and plant health regulatory programs.

Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) was the Australian government agency responsible for enforcing Australian quarantine laws, as part of the Department of Agriculture.

Live export

Live export is the commercial transport of livestock across national borders. The trade involves a number of countries with the Australian live export industry being one of the largest exporters in the global trade. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, exports of live sheep rose 21.4% and live calves increased 9.7% between March 2017 and March 2018. During 2017 alone, Australia exported 2.85 million living animals in shipping containers and airplanes. The expansion of the trade has been supported by the introduction of purpose-built ships which carry large numbers of animals. The amount of livestock exported from the European Union grew to nearly 586m kilograms between 2014 and 2017, a 62.5% increase during the time period.

AsureQuality Limited is a state-owned Enterprise fully owned by the Government of New Zealand. The company's business lies in the area of quality assurance. AsureQuality has 1700 staff, based at over 100 locations throughout Australasia and Southeast Asia.

A food safety agency or food administration is a kind of agency found in various countries and international organizations with responsibilities related to food, primarily with ensuring the safety of food sold or distributed to the population, and with ensuring that food sellers inform the population of the origins and health qualities and risks associated with food being sold.

Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Product Standards

The Philippines' Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Product Standards, is an agency of the Philippine government under the Department of Agriculture responsible for setting and implementing standards for fresh primary and secondary processed agricultural and fishery products.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) is a ministry of the Government of India responsible for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to food processing in India. The ministry was set up in the year 1988, with a view to develop a strong and vibrant food processing industry, to create increased employment in rural sector and enable farmers to reap the benefits of modern technology and to create a surplus for exports and stimulating demand for processed food. The ministry is currently headed by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a Cabinet Minister

Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development that regulates food safety, safeguards animal and plant health, and facilitates the agri-food and fisheries trade sectors.

FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 4, 2011. The FSMA has given the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new authorities to regulate the way foods are grown, harvested and processed. The law grants the FDA a number of new powers, including mandatory recall authority, which the agency has sought for many years. The FSMA requires the FDA to undertake more than a dozen rulemakings and issue at least 10 guidance documents, as well as a host of reports, plans, strategies, standards, notices, and other tasks.

Food Safety and Inspection Service

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that United States' commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. The FSIS draws its authority from the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, the Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957 and the Egg Products Inspection Act of 1970. The FSIS also acts as a national health department and is responsible for the safety of public food-related establishments as well as business investigation.

The Food Act is a New Zealand Act of Parliament passed in 2014. It comes into force by 1 March 2016 and progressively replaces the Food Act 1981 over the next three years.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous body established under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. The FSSAI has been established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which is a consolidating statute related to food safety and regulation in India. FSSAI is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety.

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australia)

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) was an Australian government department that existed between 1998 and 2013, when it was renamed as the Department of Agriculture. DAFF's role was to develop and implement policies and programs that ensure Australia's agricultural, fisheries, food and forestry industries remained competitive, profitable and sustainable.

References

  1. "Profile, July 2007" . Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  2. About FSA
  3. foodsafety.govt.nz Proposed Food Bill
  4. Regulatory Impact Statement 2009
  5. New Zealand and Codex