Food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, food processing, preparation, and food storage, storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness, food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

is a concern by the general public and the government takes measures to regulate it. The estimated cost to the country in 2009 of the six

foodborne illness Foodborne illness (also foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow ...

es campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, norovirus, yersiniosis, STEC and listeriosis was NZ$161 million. The government launched an annual Foodsafe Week in 2007 to highlight food safety issues.

Policy

The Food Act 2014, the primary legislation for governing food safety in New Zealand, is administered by the Ministry for Primary Industries, an amalgamation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Fisheries, and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (now all defunct). This act superseded the Food Act 1981 and made some fundamental changes to New Zealand's domestic food-regulatory regime. The new act was primarily designed to drive an export-led economic recovery for New Zealand, because the domestic food-regulatory regime is the platform for exports. Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) develops food standards after consulting with other government agencies and stakeholders. Dr Ayesha Verrall became the Minister of Food Safety in November 2020, succeeding

Damien O'Connor Damien Peter O'Connor (born 16 January 1958) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who currently serves as Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Minister for Land Information and Minister ...

Incidents

Major food safety incidents are rare but New Zealand was implicated in the 2008 Chinese milk scandal. Fonterra, New Zealand's largest dairy company, had a 43% stake in one of the affected companies. In another recent incident Fonterra found traces of DCD (

2-Cyanoguanidine 2-Cyanoguanidine is a nitrile derived from guanidine. It is a dimer of cyanamide, from which it can be prepared. 2-Cyanoguanidine is a colourless solid that is soluble in water, acetone, and alcohol, but not nonpolar organic solvents. Productio ...

) in milk supplies. The levels were very low and attempts were made to prevent the test results from being reported in the media.

Genetic engineering

The safety of

genetically modified food Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Gene ...

s and ingredients has often been questioned, particularly since the wide-scale discussion and protests in the early 2000s.

Pesticide residue

Pesticide residues are generally low and are thought to pose no detectable threat to health. The Soil & Health Association of New Zealand and the Pesticide Action Network Aotearoa New Zealand claim that the 2010 results for pesticide residue are the worst ever.

References

The Beehive The Beehive ( mi, Te Whare Mīere) is the common name for the Executive Wing of New Zealand Parliament Buildings, located at the corner of Molesworth Street and Lambton Quay, Wellington. It is so-called because its shape is reminiscent of that ...

Food safety
- a briefing for government ministers (2000)
Food Standards Australia New ZealandFood safety
at the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation {{Oceania topic, Food safety in

Policy

Incidents

Genetic engineering

Pesticide residue

See also

References

External links