The Australian Government Departments of Agriculture and Water Resources, Health and Industry, Innovation and Science have commenced a review to examine the interaction between Australia’s food regulation system and the growing demand for Australian food exports.
The review is based on these influencing factors:
- Australia’s food regulation system is regarded as world-class. It gives our food export industry a competitive advantage.
- Recent food incidents have tested these systems as they relate to exports. These incidents highlight potential areas for enhancement of communication and traceability.
- The international trade policy environment and consumer expectations about food are changing. Our export partners are applying more food safety, provenance and authenticity requirements to food exports as non-tariff measures. New technologies enable increased scrutiny and produce testing at any stage in the supply chain.
The review team will maintain close links with relevant projects underway, such as the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) modernisation project commissioned by the Forum on Food Regulation (FoFR) and the Agriculture Senior Officials Committee (AGSOC) traceability project.
The review involves targeted discussions between government agencies and industry stakeholders. These discussions will help build a common view of current and emerging issues.
Submissions
Thank you for sharing your feedback on the discussion paper.
We received four submissions through Have Your Say. One was in-confidence.
| Document | Pages | File size |
|---|---|---|
National Working Party on Grain Protection PDF  | 5 | 264 KB |
| CSIRO PDF | 3 | 2.3 MB |
Australian Fresh Produce Alliance DOCX  | 2 | 76 KB |
Note: Published submissions may not meet Australian Government accessibility guidelines as they have not been prepared by the department.
Food export taskforce
Barry Sterland PSM, Deputy Secretary, from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is leading the review. He is supported by a team of people from the:
- Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
- Department of Health
- Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.
The taskforce is based at our department.
For more information email Food export taskforce.