NZ Food & Grocery Council CEO Katherine Rich says the passing of the Food Bill provides New Zealand’s food regulatory regime with a much-needed update.
“As a country so dependent on food production, New Zealand needs to ensure it has modern food law and this will certainly achieve that,” says Rich.
The bill allows food manufacturers to manage their own food safety and will be based on the level of risk depending on the food they produce, rather than the existing one-size-fits-all approach.
Rich says existing legislation is more than 30 years old and features regulations that are nearly 40 years old.
“A lot has happened in food production and technology in that time. Members of the Food & Grocery Council already have sophisticated risk-based systems in place, and the new Food Act will provide clearer underpinning of those systems.”
