Contents: Resistance and adaptation to preservatives and sanitizers | Allergen management and labelling | Integration of the NSW food safety system | HACCP and small businesses in the UK
Integration of the NSW food safety system
The previous issue of Food Safety & Hygiene noted some of the main recommendations of the report on integration of the NSW food safety system. The report was handed to the State Ministers for Agriculture and Health in November 2002. The State election held in March 2003 meant that the report was not considered by Cabinet prior to the former parliament being prorogued. The report has been approved in principle by the Premier and the recommended integration of Safe Food NSW and many of the food related activities of NSW Health is proceeding. NSW Health retains responsibility for epidemiological investigation of foodborne disease and surveillance activities.
Staff from the food unit of NSW Health have relocated to the Sydney offices of Safe Food NSW but at this stage there has been no change in ministerial responsibility. New premises for Safe Food NSW currently under construction at Newington near Homebush Bay will house the new integrated food agency. A name for the agency has not yet been decided.
Many of the matters to be addressed early in the life of the new agency are related to funding, e.g. what proportion of the NSW Health public health units' funding will transfer with staff to the new agency. A major recommendation of the report was that the responsibility of local government in NSW for food regulation should be clearly defined and this also has significant resource implications.
It is likely that both regulatory and funding provisions of the Food Production (Safety) Act, which determine the present activities of Safe Food NSW will be incorporated into a new Food Act to go before Parliament.
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