Food Act 2014

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.[1]

It was introduced as the Food Bill 160-2 on 26 May 2010 to make some fundamental changes[2] 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.[3] 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.

Background

Codex Alimentarius

New Zealand’s Strategic Objectives in Codex

Food Bill gateway to Codex

History

Progress

Food legislation in other common law countries

New Zealand is one of 165 member nations of Codex Alimentarius. Other codex member nations are also passing or are proposing to pass similar legislative changes:

United States of America

Canada

Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)

Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996

Natural Health Products Bill 324-1

Consultation with the public

The NZFSA (now part of MAF) commenced consultation on the Domestic Food Review in 2004 with a series of public discussion papers. The outcome of the Review was the proposals for the Food Bill. The public were actively consulted with from 2007-2010 on the Domestic Food Review and the Food Bill. This consultation has included forums and consumer groups, discussion papers and public submission processes. The publications and information on the Food Bill have been available throughout this process on the NZFSA website and were used to support consultation. During the public consultation on the Food Bill by the Primary Production Committee from 22 July to 2 September 2010, 66 submissions were received. These can be viewed on the Parliamentary website (see the link at the end of Q4). An overview of the Domestic Food Review and the Food Bill information is available here: Overview - Reform of New Zealand food regulations Public enquiries by phone and email up until 2010 numbered 1670 and there have been over 70,000 page views for the Domestic Food Review, Food Bill and the Food Control Plan. A Consumers Forum was established in 2002 and met 3-4 times a year until November 2008 the Domestic Food Review and subsequently the Food Bill were regularly an item on their agenda. The Forum's mailing list included 61 consumer organisations and 88 individual representatives. More information on the Consumers Forum is here: Staying in touch with people

Criticism and Public Concern

Concerns have been raised about a number of different aspects of the proposed Food Bill 160-2. They are broadly categorised as:

Food Bill Issues

  1. The costs-of-food-sickness justification for Food Bill 160-2 were grossly exaggerated, and hence the real motives have not been fully disclosed by the New Zealand government.
  2. Food sovereignty will be reduced by Food- Bill 160-2.[9][10]
  3. Food Bill 160-2 would restrict seed sharing and reduce biodiversity.[9]
  4. Food Bill 160-2 contains legal loopholes which would allow the Food Safety minister to make significant changes without public consultation.[9]
  5. Motives for Food Bill 160-2 are more about enhancing New Zealand trade than they are about food safety for New Zealanders.[9]
  6. Food Bill 160-2 will erode New Zealand Civil Liberties, principally due to powers afforded Food Safety Officers.[9]
  7. Food Bill 160-2 will be used to introduce additional Genetically Modified Organisms into New Zealand’s domestic food supply.[9][11]
  8. New Zealand’s local food regulations will be subject to international market forces because local regulations must match export regulations.[9]
  9. Compliance costs for small food producers.[9]
  10. Codex Alimentarius being forced upon New Zealand’s food supply.[9][12][13]
  11. Maori culture being negatively impacted by Food Bill 160-2.[9]

Codex Alimentarius Controversy

Critics say that once Codex standards become law, consumers will have inferior food rules imposed upon them, while food standards and trade will be completely controlled worldwide. Codex may ultimately:

Petition to oppose Food Bill

References

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