Pomegranate arils that are ready-to-eat

All biosecurity requirements must be met before Imported Food Inspection Scheme requirements apply.

Check our Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON) for biosecurity import conditions.

We classify imported food that presents a potential medium or high risk to public health as risk food. All risk food is listed in the Imported Food Control Order 2019.

Ready-to-eat pomegranate arils that are fresh, frozen or dried are classified as risk food

This includes fresh, chilled, frozen or dried pomegranate arils.

Exclusions

• pomegranate arils that are retorted
• pomegranate arils that are processed
• pomegranate arils that are an ingredient in mixed ready-to-eat food
• food from New Zealand.

Food safety management certificates

From 9 November 2022, consignments of ready-to-eat pomegranate arils that are either fresh, chilled, or frozen, and are not retorted, must be lodged with a food safety management certificate.

The certificate must show that the producer has a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) based food safety management system in place. This system must identify and control food safety hazards, such as hepatitis A virus, reasonably expected to occur during the production and processing of the food.

See our determination for ready-to-eat pomegranate arils that are fresh or frozen to find out what food safety management certificates we will recognise.

Ready-to-eat pomegranate arils that are dried may be lodged with a voluntary food safety management certificate.

The presentation of a food safety management certificate replaces testing for E. coli.

Declaring certificates

When lodging a Full Import Declaration (FID), use the correct ICS document code and certificate number for food.

See requirements for lodging a food safety management certificate .

Community Protection (CP) question

You will need to answer this CP question when lodging your full import declaration.

IFIS: Are the goods ready-to-eat pomegranate arils that are either fresh, chilled, frozen or dried and are not retorted? For ready-to-eat pomegranate arils that are fresh, chilled or frozen you must provide a food safety management certificate.

Inspection and testing

We refer consignments of pomegranate arils for analytical testing at the rate of 5%. During inspection we will also conduct a visual and label assessment.

Table 1 shows the tests that will be applied and permitted results for the food type.

n = the minimum number of sample units that must be examined from a lot of food.
c = the maximum allowable number of defective sample units, that have counts between ‘m’ and ‘M’.
m = the acceptable microbiological level in a sample unit.
M = the level, which when exceeded (the level is greater than M), in one or more samples would cause the lot to be rejected.

Food safety risks

Food Standard Australia New Zealand has given us advice that  fresh and frozen, ready-to-eat pomegranate arils present a potential high risk to public health for hepatitis A, and that dried, ready-to-eat pomegranate arils present a potential medium risk to public health for hepatitis A.

To make sure there are food safety controls in place to manage this hazard during processing, we require food safety management certificates for imports of the higher risk, fresh, chilled or frozen pomegranate arils.

Determination

We have identified what food safety management certificates we will recognise in this determination.

The determination sets out:

• who can issue the certificate
• scope of the certification
• who the certificate covers
• how it can be verified.

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Glossary

Ready-to-eat

Food is ready-to-eat if it is ordinarily consumed in the same state as that in which it is sold.

To avoid doubt, food is not ordinarily consumed in the same state as that in which it is sold if, before it is consumed, it requires further processing (such as cooking) to reduce any pathogenic microorganisms potentially present in the food to safe levels.

Retorted

Goods (other than animal products) are retorted if they are heated in a hermetically sealed container for a time, and to a temperature, sufficient to make the contents commercially sterile.
 

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