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Department of Agriculture

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Biosecurity and trade
  3. Import
  4. Importing goods
  5. Food
  6. Food type
  7. Importing from New Zealand

Sidebar first - Import

  • Import requirements by food type
    • Importing food from New Zealand
    • Arachnids
    • Beef and beef products
    • Beef and beef products - raw
    • Berries
    • Bivalve molluscs
    • Caffeine products - pure and highly concentrated
    • Cassava chips
    • Cereal grains and cereal products
    • Cheese
    • Cheese - raw milk
    • Coconut and coconut meat
    • Coconut milk drinks
    • Crustaceans
    • Crustaceans - cooked
    • Finfish - processed
    • Fish - fresh, chilled, frozen - aquaculture
    • Fish - histamine susceptible
    • Fruit
    • Fungi - prohibited
    • Ham - uncooked slow dry cured
    • Hemp seeds and oil
    • Herbs - dried
    • Honey
    • Human milk and human milk products
    • Infant formula - powdered
    • Insects
    • Kava
    • Meat - processed and cooked
    • Meat - processed and uncooked
    • Meat and edible offal
    • Milk - dried
    • Novel food (non-traditional food)
    • Mini jelly cups containing konjac
    • Oil - Edible plant oil
    • Paprika
    • Peanuts
    • Pepper - dried
    • Pistachios
    • Plants - prohibited
    • Pomegranate arils
    • Poultry meat - cooked
    • Poultry meat and offal products
    • Poultry pate, paste and liver
    • Seaweed - brown
    • Sesame seeds and sesame seed products
    • Soy bean curd
    • Soy milk curd
    • Sports food - formulated supplementary
    • Tofu
    • Vegetables
    • All other food and beverages

Importing food from New Zealand

Improving access to imported food safety requirements

From mid-2025 imported food safety requirements will be incorporated into the Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON).

See more about the Inclusion of food safety requirements in BICON.

Australia and New Zealand have joint food standards and recognise each other’s food safety standards and import control systems. This allows food to be imported between the countries without border inspection.

Under the Imported Food Control Act 1992, food imported from New Zealand is exempted, except for some food classified as risk food. This exemption recognises the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Arrangement (TTMRA). In 1996, the governments of Australia and New Zealand agreed that goods that can be legally sold in one country can be legally sold in the other country.

Food imported from New Zealand must still meet our biosecurity requirements. Check the Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON) for biosecurity import conditions.

Inspecting and testing

Most imported food from New Zealand is exempt from inspection and testing under the Imported Food Inspection Scheme.

The only food imported from New Zealand that we inspect is:

  • beef
  • beef products
  • ready-to-eat cassava chips
  • brown seaweed
  • food trans-shipped through New Zealand (product is not 'cleared' for sale in New Zealand).

Food imports exempt from testing

To be exempt from inspection, food imported from New Zealand must:

  • be grown, harvested and produced in or imported into New Zealand
  • comply with New Zealand food laws
  • be labelled at the point of sale with the importers name and business address in Australia or New Zealand.

Mutual recognition

The TTMRA is a non-Treaty arrangement between the:

  • Australian Government
  • Australian state and territory governments
  • New Zealand Government

Under the TTMRA, governments in Australia and New Zealand have agreed that goods that can be legally sold in New Zealand can also be sold in Australia, and vice versa. The principles of this arrangement have been enacted through the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997.

The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources manages the TTMRA.

General enquiries

Call 1800 900 090

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Page last updated: 28 April 2025

We acknowledge the continuous connection of First Nations Traditional Owners and Custodians to the lands, seas and waters of Australia. We recognise their care for and cultivation of Country. We pay respect to Elders past and present, and recognise their knowledge and contribution to the productivity, innovation and sustainability of Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries.

Artwork: Protecting our Country, Growing our Future
© Amy Allerton, contemporary Aboriginal Artist of the Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Gamilaroi nations.

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