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Food Regulation Review

The activities of the Food Regulation Review Committee, a joint Commonwealth and State Government initiative, under the chairmanship of Dr W. H. Blair OAM were briefly described in the November 1997 issue of Food Safety & Hygiene.

The Committee has completed its consultations and an interim report is expected in June of this year followed by a period for public comment before a final report is issued. In its latest newsletter, the Committee nominated a number of concerns which had been raised with it by stakeholders. These included:

• the lack of uniform food legislation and regulations across the States and Territories;
• lack of coordination between government agencies;
• inconsistent approaches to various food related matters in States and Territories;
• too many and/or overly complex food standards and regulations;
• small businesses not being adequately consulted or represented in government decision making.

The Committee is now focusing its work on five broad areas based on the need to improve:

• regulatory policies and regulation setting processes;
• rationalisation of overlap and duplication between agencies;
• surveillance and compliance arrangements;
• training, education and public access to information; and
• appropriate resourcing of government programs.

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Prepared by Keith Richardson and Beverley George
Food Science Australia
PO Box 52, North Ryde 1670. Tel +61 2 9490 8397 Fax +61 2 9490 8499
Email enquiries@csiro.au