9 December 2016
Failing Food Reports
Import Food section update September and October failing food report
The failing food report for SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER 2016 is now available to view on the website and can be accessed via the following link:
http://www.agriculture.gov.au/import/goods/food/inspection-compliance/failing-food-reports
9 December 2016
Import Industry Advice Notice 117/2016
Import Conditions Review – Used Machinery
has been published on the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources website and can be accessed via the following link:
http://www.agriculture.gov.au/import/industry-advice/2016/117-2016
Import Industry Advice Notices are available from the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources website at: www.agriculture.gov.au/iian.
12 December 2016
Import Industry Advice Notice 118/2016
Changes to the Automatic Entry Processing for Commodities Approved Arrangement (Class 19.2) Requirements document due to transitioning AEPCOMM codes into BICON
has been published on the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources website and can be accessed via the following link:
http://www.agriculture.gov.au/import/industry-advice/2016/118-2016
Import Industry Advice Notices are available from the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources website at: www.agriculture.gov.au/iian.
Edition No. 25 13 December 2016 is now available on the APVMA website. As a subscriber, you will receive an email notification each time a new Gazette is published.
CONTENTS
Erratum Notice – page 3
Agricultural Chemical Products and Approved Labels – page 4
Veterinary Chemical Products and Approved Labels – page 11
Approved Active Constituents – page 13
Licensing of Veterinary Chemical Manufacturers – page 14
Cancellation of Label Approval at the Request of the Holder – page 17
Sero-X Insecticide Containing Clitoria Ternatea Extract – page 18
New Agricultural Active Constituent Metazachlor – page 21
New Chemical Product Butisan Herbicide Containing the New Active Constituent Metazachlor – page 23
You can also access back issues of the Gazette from August 1999.
Searching previous editions
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Food Standards Notification circular 31-16 – 13 December 2016
The latest Notification Circular (31–16) was published on 13 December 2016.
The Circular summarises work currently being undertaken or finalised by FSANZ including:
A1137 – Polysorbate 20 as a Food Additive
A1134 – Increased Concentration of Plant Sterols in Breakfast Cereals (call for submissions)
A1123 – Isomalto-oligosaccharide as a Novel Food (call for submissions)
FSANZ’s cost recovery arrangements (call for submissions)
A1117 – Extension of Use of L-cysteine as a Food Additive
A1119 – Addition of Water to facilitate Wine Fermentation
A1128 – Food derived from reduced Acrylamide Potential & Browning Potato Line E12
Consumers, food industry representatives, farmers… lots of people read our information. We want to know more about our stakeholders to make sure you are all getting the information you need. Help us learn more about you! Take our short survey here.
As part of the government response to the 2011 Labelling Logic Report, FSANZ has submitted reports on recommendations 6, 12 and 47 to the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation. You can read more about these reports here: Recommendation 12,
Recommendation 6 and Recommendation 47.
For more information on FSANZ’s work on the other recommendations, see our Labelling Review webpage.
In November FSANZ added new information to the list of foods that have risks associated with their importation into Australia. The updated advice covers foods including seafood, sesame seeds, spices, coconut and bean curd. Read the new information on our website.
Food safety culture in an organisation is how everyone (owners, managers, employees) thinks and acts in their job to make sure that the food they make or serve is safe. It’s about having pride in producing safe food every time and making that your top priority.
Find our easy to use resources on food safety culture on our websites.
FSANZ would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year! Stay food-safe during the festive season by following these tips from the Food Safety Information Council (after all no one wants to receive the gift of food poisoning!).
Our offices will be closed from Christmas Eve and we will reopen on Tuesday 3 January 2016.
FSANZ has completed an administrative assessment and accepted the following application. An opportunity to comment will be available at a later date which will be publicly notified.
- A1137 – Polysorbate 20 as a Food Additive: to permit the use of polysorbate 20 as an emulsifier.
FSANZ is calling for submissions on the following applications:
- A1134 – Increased Concentration of Plant Sterols in Breakfast Cereals: to amend current novel food permissions for phytosterols added to breakfast cereals to allow increased concentrations for portion-controlled breakfast cereals, in either individually wrapped portions or portions that can be easily divided.
- A1123 – Isomalto-oligosaccharide as a Novel Food: seeks to amend the Food Standards Code to permit isomalto-oligosaccharide as a novel food to be used as an alternative (lower calorie) sweetener and bulk filler in a range of general purpose and special purpose foods.
- Changes to cost recovery arrangements: FSANZ is proposing an increase in its hourly charge to reflect government policy for full cost recovery, changed levels within the general procedure and a reduced administrative charge.
FSANZ’s Media Issues
Labelling
‘Skutta Tucker’, a new health star rating food labelling system, is helping Indigenous people in remote communities make healthier food choices and address widespread diet-related diseases. Read more.
In a bid to educate consumers of their sugar intake, lobbyists in New Zealand are pushing for icons to be included on the labels of fizzy drinks that show total sugar content. An average can of fizzy drink contains about nine teaspoons of sugar—the maximum daily consumption recommended by the World Health Organisation. Read more.
American start up food and beverage company Edamam has released the Nutrition Wizard Pro: a tool to help restaurants, catering and food delivery companies label the food they make for allergens, diet appropriateness and key nutrient content by analysing recipes and ingredient lists in less than a second. Read more.
New food labelling amendments announced by Health Canada this week will help consumers better understand how much sugar is in a product as well as compare different serving sizes in a bid to make it easier for Canadians to make healthy food choices. Read more.
Food safety
A public health expert wants raw chicken labelled with the amount of bacteria it contains, after nearly two-thirds of fresh chicken tested by Consumer New Zealand was found to be contaminated with campylobacter. Read more.
Indian food regulators say food packed in newspapers is slowly poisoning locals with cancer-causing agents and microbes through exposure to unsafe printing ink. Read more.
A shopping mall in China has installed digital screens at the front doors of its restaurants to broadcast real-time scenes from inside their kitchens, as part of a pilot for a new food safety project. Read more.
The US Department of Agriculture will now include food safety instructions in the food recipes it publishes following a study finding that food safety reminders, such as washing hands, promotes a 70–80% increase in people doing so when cooking. Read more.
Britain’s Food Standards Agency is asking Britons to tweet if they have vomiting or diarrhoea as a means of charting the spread of the highly contagious novovirus bug, usually transmitted through contaminated food and contact with other people. Read more.
According to this article, Australian businesses need to invest in the refrigerated transport used to transport imported Australian chilled foods in Asia. The lack of adequate transport is damaging consumer safety, trust in use-by dates and failed contracts resulting from contaminated goods, food analysts say. Read more.
Food regulation
This article looks at why Australian food and health products are so highly regarded and trusted by consumers both locally and in Asia.
Diet and nutrition
New Zealand food companies Fonterra and Nestle are the first fast-moving consumer goods companies to sign up to the Ministry of Health’s Healthy Kids Pledge, which was published this week. Read more.
Pass the camembert! An American study has found diets that include high levels of the saturated fats found in dairy, meat and tropical oils promote weight loss and may aid in fighting off Type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Read more.
Are you getting enough choline? This article looks at the nutrient you didn’t know you were missing.
You don’t have to ‘give up cheese’, stop eating out, or miss out on essential nutrients if you switch to a plant-based diet. This article looks at the best ways to conquer the perceived hurdles to going vegan.
Expecting mums should add another vitamin to their handful of supporting supplements: a new study from The University of Queensland suggests that women who lack vitamin D whilst pregnant are more likely to have a child with autistic traits. Read more.
GMO
Thanks to social media, some people think that GMO is all about injecting vegetables with syringes of ‘chemicals and stuff’. Wrong! This article explains why this often misunderstood modern plant-breeding process isn’t so scary and dangerous, and why it is so important to the farming community as well as consumers. Read more.
The genetically modified foods market is set for rapid growth and trend by 2025 thanks to the rise in demand for healthy and nutritional food products with year-round easy availability. Read the press release.
A lot of the information we read about GMO and GE focuses on the negatives. This article provides a more balanced look at genetically engineered crops—from a farmer’s perspective.
Quirky
Test tube coffee, skateboard plates and tempura served in high heels: this article takes a look at all the ways hipsters destroyed food in 2016.