Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has completed the review of food safety measures for the primary production and processing of berries, leafy vegetables and melons under Proposal P1052.
This proposal considered strengthening food safety management on-farm and during initial processing by introducing nationally-consistent, baseline food safety standards for the three sectors.
The FSANZ Board recently approved the introduction of new food safety standards for the three sectors and, on 22 June 2022, FSANZ notified Food Ministers’ Meeting (FMM) of its decision.
The FMM has 60 days from that notification to either request FSANZ review the standards or inform FSANZ that it does not intend to request a review. If a review is not requested, the three standards will be gazetted in Australia and become part of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code and Australian food law.
Once gazetted, there will be a 30 month transition period for implementation.
The FSANZ Board also recommended to the FMM that the three standards, if endorsed by FMM, be supported by non-regulatory tools, such as guidance documents and materials, to support and increase awareness of the standards and their requirements.
More information including the background, actions and consultation to date, the approval report, decision regulation impact statement and cost benefit analysis is available on the FSANZ website.