Newsletter | Foodwise volume 8 Spring - NSW Food Authority

foodwise
A NSW FOOD AUTHORITY NEWSLETTER FOR NSW FOOD INDUSTRIES
VOLUME 8 | SPRING 2007 | ISSN 1833-2013
MEAT
P3
SEAFOOD
P4
DAIRY
P5
POULTRY
P6-7
NEW SCHEMES
P8
Finding your voice
Ever wondered how you can add your
business’s voice to regulatory debates and
decisions facing your sector?
The NSW Food Authority has advisory
committees for all industries which have a
regulatory food safety scheme in place. It
is through these that your comments and
opinions can be heard.
Via these committees we work to prevent
breaches of the food law by openly
discussing compliance and enforcement
issues, and invite industry debate and
comment on emerging policy, science and
strategic directions. Current committees
under the Food Regulation Act 2004 are:
• NSW Meat Industry Consultative
Council
• NSW Seafood Industry Conference
• Poultry and Egg Industries Committee
• NSW Dairy Industry Conference
Just as the Authority takes a through
chain approach to regulation, our
committees have representation from
across the supply chain including farmers,
fishermen, processors, manufacturers,
some retailers and transporters.
Each committee also has a consumer
representative and an employee
representative appointed by the Minister.
Recently, the Authority facilitated business
planning sessions for all committees to
enable greater engagement and focus
on what industry leaders view as the key
issues and challenges for their sectors in
the food regulatory environment.
The results of the planning sessions will
feature in future issues of Foodwise. In
the meantime, if you would like to contact
your industry representative call Isabella
Carlini at the Authority on 02 97414715.
Website lists law breakers
Consumers can now access information
about food outlets that have been
convicted for offences under the Food Act
2003 on the Authority’s website.
The first company to appear on the list
launched by the NSW Minister for Primary
Industries, Ian Macdonald, was an
Orange-based wholesaler prosecuted for
selling falsely labelled whisky that did not
meet alcohol content requirements.
To progress this NSW Government
initiative to publish the names of food
industry operators who break food safety
laws, the Authority co-hosted an industry
and stakeholder forum. It was attended
by 55 representatives of local councils,
industry and consumer groups.
‘The Government is working to achieve
NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald
a balance between the public’s right to
know and the rights of food businesses to
their good reputation,’ Mr Macdonald said.
‘I am encouraged that the food industry,
councils and other stakeholders have
expressed their goodwill in advancing this
initiative.’
Mr Macdonald said feedback from
the forum would inform a package of
proposed food industry reforms soon to
be considered by the NSW Parliament.
Cr Genia McCaffery, President of the
Local Government Association and Mayor
of North Sydney, said she was glad to
co-sponsor the forum because local
government had a vital role as a coregulator
of retail food businesses.
‘Local government has a key role to play
in this initiative as our EHOs are in the
field ensuring food safety standards are
maintained in retail food businesses. But
local government is also close to retail
food businesses, and wants to make sure
the system works well and efficiently.’
Cr Genia McCaffery, President LGA and Mayor of North
Sydney
FEATURED ARTICLES
p1 Industry
Committees
p3 Meat Standards
Committee
p4 Shellfish program p5 Controlling BJD p7 Egg Safety
Summit

NSW Food Authority
presentations
In the three months to July 07 Authority
staff gave several presentations.
In July, George Davey presented to the
Food Safety Expert Board for the Beijing
2008 Olympics.
In June, David Miles presented on
Listeria monocytogenes to the Meat
Standards Committee. In August
he outlined food regulations for the
packaged ice industry at the Packaged
Ice Association of Australia annual
conference.
Edward Jansson and Lisa Szabo presented
Dioxins in Seafood — A case study in
risk analysis, at the AIFST Convention
in Melbourne. In May Edward presented
on the Authority’s role in nutrition
information to the Nutrition Society of
Australia, Sydney group.
Enforcement and prosecution statistics
May 2007 - July 2007
Type of enforcement/prosecution May 07 Jun 07 Jly 07
Product seizures 2 1 a 2
Improvement notices 154 125 85
Written warnings 41 18 25
Prohibition orders 5 1 b 2
Show cause letters 0 0 0
Penalty notices 35 c 2 33 d
Food recalls/ disposals 4 7 2
Licence cancellations/ suspensions 0 0 0
Prosecutions 1 e 0 1
Individual case examples:
a.
Wholesaler/manufacturer of sushi type foods did not comply with a prohibition order
and all food on premises was seized and destroyed.
In May, Peter Sutherland presented on
the Australian approach to risk, and
managing food safely for the Olympics,
in Shanghai.
Numerous presentations were made
during the period regarding regulation
for food service to vulnerable persons,
and also to university students on various
aspects of food safety and regulation.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Wholesale bakery failed to comply with an improvement notice to clean premises.
Seafood retailer was served three penalty notices for non compliance with Food
Standards Code relating to failure to state country of origin, falsely describing
Vannamei prawns as King prawns, and failure to notify the Authority of a food
business.
Retail premises was served a penalty notice for selling unsuitable food.
Liquor wholesaler fined for selling adulterated Scotch whisky. A fine of $30 000 was
imposed and $80 000 in costs was also granted.
Events calendar
OCTOBER 07
17-19 Australian Shellfish Quality
Assurance Advisory Committee
(ASQAAC) meeting
19 Australia and New Zealand Food
Regulation Ministerial Council
(ANZFRMC), Adelaide
NOVEMBER 07
12-17 Food Safety Week
17-18 Allergy Convention, Sydney
DECEMBER 07
4 Meat Industry Consultative
Council
JANUARY 08
21 Poultry and egg industries
committee meeting
Audits and inspections
May 2007 - July 2007
Industry type May 07 Jun 07 Jly 07
Audits
Meat 398 410 388
Dairy 31 92 17
Seafood 123 69 113
Hospitals & aged care (requested audits) 1 1 2
Plants 6 10 3
Total audits 559 582 523
Inspections
Meat 104 547 220
Dairy 7 2 9
Seafood 17 80 96
Plant products 0 5 0
Total inspections 128 634 325
2

Meat
Meat Standards Committee wraps up
On 20 June 2007 members of the Meat
Standards Committee (MSC) held their
final meeting in Sydney. The MSC was
established in the early 1990s following
the Garibaldi food poisoning incident,
involving mettwurst, in South Australia.
As a result of the work undertaken by this
committee the meat industry throughout
Australia now operates under approved
HACCP programs and there is a set of
Australian Standards which set out the
minimum operational requirements for all
sectors of the meat industry.
These standards are outcome based
and give industry and regulators greater
flexibility in conducting operations provided
that food safety outcomes are achieved.
Each regulatory jurisdiction underpinned
these standards by including them in
their relevant legislation, so the same
requirements apply for the meat industry
throughout Australia.
The committee comprised Commonwealth
and State Government representatives
from agencies responsible for regulating
the meat industry throughout Australia.
Industry representatives from abattoir
processors (both red meat and poultry),
smallgoods manufacturers, the rendering
and game meat industry as well as Food
Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ)
and Meat & Livestock Australia were also
on the committee.
When the Garibaldi incident highlighted
deficiencies in the meat industry, the
MSC was set up to review the regulatory
framework for the industry in Australia
and develop new standards to improve
consistency of regulation throughout the
jurisdictions and move towards outcomes
based regulations which embraced the
principles of HACCP.
The MSC was responsible for developing
numerous Australian Standards for the
red meat, poultry meat, game, rendering,
rabbit meat, ratite, crocodile, and transport
sectors. These standards have been
regularly reviewed and updated. Current
standards remain in place through all
jurisdictions until they are able to be
replaced with new standards developed
by FSANZ. The MSC provided an effective
forum for industry and regulators to
discuss issues and agreed outcomes to
many areas of concern.
The work of the MSC has now largely
been taken over by a working group
under FSANZ who are developing Primary
Production and Processing Standards for
the meat industry. Many participants of the
MSC contribute ideas to this new working
group.
The meat industry has been well served
by many people and organisations who
have contributed to the MSC standards
process. The MSC achieved the tasks it
was given and the Authority looks forward
to supporting the new process with
the Primary Production and Processing
Standards.
Jurisdictional forum targets Listeria
In late June 2007 the NSW Food Authority
hosted a jurisdictional forum attended by
state and territory regulatory agencies.
The forum gives field officers involved in
the auditing and regulation of the meat
industry an opportunity to discuss ways to
facilitate standardisation and consistently
implement regulatory requirements
throughout Australia. These meetings are
held every two years and are attended
primarily by field officers.
This year the focus was on the issue of
Listeria in premises processing ready to
eat meat products. This is a concern in all
jurisdictions, and participants discussed
ways to improve control of this pathogen
in processing areas. Participants also
visited a dairy factory to observe how
other food industries control Listeria in
the processing environment.
Awards recognise MLA
The 2007 Restaurant & Catering NSW
Awards for Excellence were held at the
Australian Jockey Club (AJC) in Randwick
on 27 August.
Lachlan Bowtell from Meat & Livestock
Australia (on left) with Robert Goldman,
CEO Restaurant & Catering NSW/ACT
More than 900 of the industry’s best
chefs, restaurateurs, waiters and guests
attended.
Amongst the many awards presented
for all types of restaurants and caterers,
there were some special awards.
Meat & Livestock Australia received the
special Supplier of the Year award for
service to the restaurant and catering
industry.
For information on the MLA guide on an
alternative process for sanitising knives,
see p8.
3

Seafood
Local Shellfish Program workshops improve effectiveness
The NSW Food Authority held a series
of industry workshops on classification
and local shellfish program operation in
June. As well as classification, participants
learned about sampling requirements,
phytoplankton and industry consultation
arrangements, and participated in
activities to improve understanding of the
NSW Shellfish Program.
The workshops were held at Ballina,
Kempsey, Taree, Port Stephens,
Sydney, Mollymook, Bateman’s Bay and
Merimbula.
‘The programs were very well received,’
Anthony Zammit, Program Manager, NSW
Shellfish Program, reported. ‘Participants
filled out response forms about the
workshops, which asked about workshop
usefulness, relevance of content, ease
of understanding and so on. On a rating
of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), the average
score was 4.6, with no dimension scoring
less than 4.3. Other local programs
have requested the workshops for their
members, so we are working on that.’
The Authority continues to improve
effectiveness of the program in order to
reduce sampling costs, reduce closures
and improve classification through
improved data collection by industry.
The Shellfish Program has transitioned
from classification implementation to
a process of classification review and
maintenance. Annual reviews for 2007
have been completed for 90% of harvest
areas.
Annual review reports provide the local
estuary and the NSW Food Authority with
a report card on their sampling efforts,
response to pollution incidents and
compliance with the management plan
over the past year.
Current management issues
The multi-agency working group set up
to address the pollution issues affecting
the Bellinger River has made considerable
progress, with water quality results
showing a notable improvement.
Remediation work is continuing and water
quality monitoring has been increased
in an effort to reopen the river to the
harvest of oysters.
The Honeymoon Bay harvest area in
Wagonga Inlet was upgraded to direct
harvest, effective from 21 August,
providing significant operational benefits
to the local industry.
Another round of Mercury in Fish resources
Following on from the Mercury in Fish campaign conducted in 2005, the Authority
recently distributed another 67 600 leaflets and over 500 leaflet holders (merchandisers)
to fish shops in NSW. The initial distribution was 450 000 Mercury in Fish cards.
The core message of the campaign was that fish is beneficial for pregnant women, but
consumers need to know which fish to choose to get the benefits without the risk.
In this latest round of the campaign the Authority promoted additional messages to
pregnant women, including advice to ‘Get your folate, take care when preparing food,
and eat fish wisely’.
In addition to the previously distributed cards, fridge magnets (shown to right) were
included in the Mums to be Bounty Bags (bags of samples and information given to
pregnant women when they visit the antenatal clinic for the first time or register at the
hospital). These encouraged women to visit the Authority’s website for advice. The May
launch caused a spike in enquiries to the website.
A follow up survey of 262 women in
July found that 61% now felt there
was sufficient information available
on diet and food safety (up 23% from
pre-campaign research). It found 71%
of respondents were aware of Listeria
infection as a food safety issue (up 20%
from the pre-campaign research).
Of the 28% of women who reported
receiving the Mercury in Fish card, 21%
received it from their GP, 17% received
it from the hospital, and 19% obtained it
from their fish shop.
4

Dairy
Controlling Bovine Johne’s Disease
On 31 July 2007, Peter Commins, Aimee Urban, Mark Mackie and Anne McIntosh from
the NSW Food Authority attended a training day on the control of Bovine Johne’s Disease
(BJD) in dairy cattle. Held at Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Menangle, and
run by Sally Spence from the Department of Primary Industries, the aim of the day was
to provide regulators, industry representatives and veterinarians with information on the
National Dairy BJD Assurance Score and changes to the NSW BJD Policy.
BJD is a chronic incurable disease in adult cattle that results in diarrhoea, reduced milk
production, weight loss and eventually death of the infected animal. It is caused by the
bacterium Mycobacterium paratuberculosis and infection generally occurs during the first
twelve months of a calf’s life by ingestion of contaminated faeces.
To reduce the incidence of BJD in a dairy herd, there are three key management areas
that need to be implemented.
• Strategic herd testing and culling to identify and remove high risk individuals and
groups
• Rearing calves in uncontaminated areas to minimise new infections and following a
calf rearing management program such as JDCAP (Johne’s Disease Calf Accreditation
Program) or the 3 Step Calf Plan
• Low risk herd introductions
The National Dairy BJD Assurance Score uses these three management areas to give
farmers a simple numerical tool that they can use when buying or selling stock, to give
greater assurance about the BJD risk of the herd. The Assurance Score allocates points
for each management area that is implemented. The higher the total score, the greater
the assurances of purchasing cattle from a low risk herd. The Assurance Score can be
applied to the herd as a whole or an individual cow or bull.
Meeting challenge in the
dairy industry
The Dairy Industry Association of
Australia (DIAA) and the Dairy Science
World Series (DSWS) 2007 Technical
Committee welcomed 103 delegates
to their eighth DSWS international
conference, Turning barriers into benefits:
the science behind dairy regulation, held
29-30 August in Melbourne.
Local and international speakers
addressed food integrity and risk, new
processing technologies, raw milk and
markets for future products.
The Authority’s Peter Sutherland spoke
on food safety objectives in the post
production sector. This focused on the
major challenge of the Australian dairy
industry — to remain competitive through
the introduction of new and innovative
products, while ensuring there is continual
improvement in the management of food
safety issues.
The Department of Primary Industries recommends that cattle only be purchased from
herds with a score of seven or above.
In NSW, the BJD Policy is being changed to reflect these new initiatives. All NSW dairy
farmers will be required to declare their herd’s Dairy BJD Assurance Score on a Dairy
BJD Assurance Score Declaration Form each time they sell or move cattle from 1 January
2008. The form is available from the NSW Department of Primary Industries. The NSW
Food Authority is also reviewing the on-farm QA program to include self assessment of
all herds and farm calf rearing practices to control BJD as a part of the QA program.
For more information on controlling BJD talk to your local vet or contact the NSW
Department of Primary Industries.
Peter Sutherland presents at DSWS
Photo provided by Australian Dairy Foods magazine
One of the concepts that has been
proposed as a food safety management
tool is the use of Food Safety Objectives
(FSOs). An FSO establishes a maximum
level of a microbiological hazard in a food
at the time of consumption to provide an
appropriate level of protection for public
health. The FSO concept is proposed as
one means of determining equivalence
in food safety management systems
between countries and as a means of
facilitating trade. The practicalities on
how an FSO could be established were
examined, using Listeria monocytogenes
in pasteurised liquid milk as an example
to illustrate how the FSO concept
may potentially be applied in the post
production dairy sector.
The full proceedings are in the August
issue of the Australian Journal of Dairy
Technology, and accessible to all DIAA
members through the DIAA website
(www.diaa.asn.au).
5

Poultry and Eggs
Specialty eggs survey leads to prohibition order for
one processor
The NSW Food Authority conducted a
survey from July to December 2006 of
specialty egg products sold in NSW (as
reported in last December’s Foodwise).
Specialty eggs analysed in this survey
included salted and century or ‘thousand
year old’ eggs. The purpose of this survey
was to gain a greater understanding of
the microbiological and chemical status of
these products, as well as the processing
methods and food handling practices
employed.
Except for one processor, all chemical
results were within acceptable limits.
High lead levels were detected in century
eggs from one processor. Testing of the
processing brine used by this processor
also revealed high levels of lead. Further
investigation revealed the use of lead
oxide, which is not permitted as a food
additive or processing aid under the Food
Standards Code (FSC). Immediate action
was taken against the processor, resulting
in the issuing of a prohibition order.
All the facts on egg food
safety
The NSW Food Authority recently
prepared a fact sheet on egg food
safety for egg producers to enable these
businesses to meet their legislative
requirements.
Egg businesses are required to comply
with the NSW Food Act 2003 and the
requirements set by Food Standards
Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) under the
Food Standards Code (FSC) to prevent
the sale of unsafe and unsuitable food.
Of salted eggs produced domestically,
37% yielded Standard Plate Counts
(SPC) greater than 10 6 cfu/g and 5%
were found to contain E.coli levels >
10 MPN/g. Results for imported product
were acceptable, with all samples yielding
SPC

National egg summit attracts delegates from around Australia
Over 100 delegates, all involved in some way with the 3.5 billion eggs sold in Australia each year, participated in the
first National Egg Summit, convened by the NSW Food Authority on 22 August and held in Sydney.
The Summit was sponsored by the
NSW Food Authority, Food Standards
Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), SafeFood
Queensland and the Australian Egg
Corporation Limited (AECL). Various state
jurisdictions (the Authority, SafeFood
Qld and WA Health), national agencies
(OzFoodNet, Department of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry and FSANZ) and
the egg industry (AECL, PEIC, NSW
Farmer’s Association) all contributed to
the program.
The objectives were to identify issues
relating to current levels of foodborne
illness attributed to eggs and egg
products in Australia, and to map possible
industry and government solutions to
those key issues.
It included lively workshops on reducing
foodborne illness associated with eggs,
and improving risk communication for the
egg industry.
Three information packed sessions
addressed the egg food products safety
risks in Australia, risk assessment
and risk management strategies, and
risk communication. Each session
incorporated a detailed overview, case
studies and facilitated workshops.
Presentations from regulators,
producers, industry bodies and others
gave participants an in-depth, 360 o
perspective on key issues, which were
then workshopped in smaller groups.
Attendees included researchers,
laboratory personnel, small producers,
processors and retailers.
Gerard Fitzsimmons from OzFoodNet told
delegates that there had been 75 egg
related outbreaks of foodborne illness
reported from January 2001 to April 2007.
Of the 1222 individuals involved, 361
were hospitalised and three died.
Major challenges identified were the
use of cracked and dirty eggs, cross
contamination, inadequate traceability
and increased use of unpasteurised raw
egg in restaurants, bakeries and homes.
AECL’s James Kellaway, in his address
on Non-regulatory approaches to
managing egg food safety, remarked
that he expected to see action that is
commercially realistic as an outcome of
the day.
Follow up to the summit
Outcomes of the day will be distributed to
all participants and will be used in various
forums to advise on future regulatory
and non regulatory approaches to egg
food safety and industry education. For
example, FSANZ will use outcomes to
inform the development of the national
Egg Primary Production Standard.
At the National Egg Safety Summit, from left: Paul Pace (Pace Farm), Ivy Inwood (Queensland Free Range Egg Industry Association), James Kellaway (AECL), Peter
Sutherland (NSW Food Authority), Tenille Fort (Qld Health), Frank Pace (Pace Farm), Fay Jenkins (Dept of Health SA), Michelle Keygan (NSW Food Authority)
7

New Schemes
Plant Products Safety Manual updated
Recently alfalfa sprouts received national
attention after bacterial contamination and
illness resulted in a number of recalls. In
response, the Authority has taken steps
to ensure the safety of seed sprouts
produced in NSW.
The Authority reviewed the current manual
and updated the regulatory requirements
to include additional process control
measures. Because of the food safety
recalls, the requirements for sprouts were
revised first.
On 1 October 2007 it will become a
condition of licence to comply with the
requirements set out in the Plant Products
Safety Manual published by the Authority.
The updated manual can be found at
www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/industry
In April 2005 the NSW Food Authority
implemented the NSW Plant Products Food
Safety Scheme which requires businesses
that produce high-priority plant products,
including seed sprouts, to implement
HACCP based food safety programs.
An evaluation of food safety practices in
these high risk plant product businesses
was undertaken from June 2005 to
February 2006.
The evaluation generated a number
of general and industry specific
recommendations, one of which is the
review of the Plant Product Safety Manual.
The revised regulatory requirements for
sprouters include:
•
•
•
•
•
Seed supplier approval programs
Seed pre-screening (using a statistically
valid sampling plan)
Seed sanitation
Post harvest washing
Finished product testing
The Authority consulted with industry
throughout the development of the new
requirements for the manual. This involved
a series of visits to various seed sprouter’s
facilities and discussions with producers.
Assisting delivery of the NSW State Plan
In November 2006, the NSW Government
released its ten year vision for the State,
and all government agencies were asked
to show how their public services will
contribute towards delivery of the NSW
State Plan. The Authority completed
its review of the results and services it
provides for the NSW public in May 2007
and will make contributions to three of the
five key activity areas noted in the State
Plan: delivering better services, fairness
and opportunity, and growing prosperity
across NSW.
This process also offered opportunity for
the Authority to review its core functions
and its Branch structure. With the support
of staff, the unions and stakeholders,
a better balanced branch structure
emerged in which all existing functions
were retained, no positions were lost,
opportunities to focus on addressing larger
strategic goals were identified, and where
communications with our stakeholders
could be improved.
The resulting new branches are:
• Science and Policy,
• Compliance, Investigation and
Enforcement, and
• Communication and Corporate Resources.
In the revised structure the industry
consultation program was moved to
Communication and Corporate Resources.
Authority presents
Peter Sutherland, Director of
Industry Liaison and Business
Planning with the Authority, spoke
to Honours and Masters students
of Food Technology at UNSW about
some practical applications of food
safety.
He recounted the Authority’s role
in mega events like the Sydney
Olympics and APEC.
Exporting expertise
The NSW Food Authority is assisting
the Beijing Food Administration in
food safety planning for the Beijing
Olympics next year.
Director General, George Davey,
is part of the international expert
panel appointed by the Chinese
government to oversee food safety
planning for the event.
Alternative knife sanitising
process
The MLA recently published a guide
giving a process for sanitising knives
using water at less then 82 o C.
If you wish to use the alternative
method described in that guide you
must make prior application to the
Authority, giving evidence to validate
that alternative system, and gain specific
approval to use this.
Contact Peter Day on 02 9741 4803 or
at peter.day@foodauthority.nsw.gov.au
NSW Food Authority
6 Avenue of the Americas, Newington NSW 2127 | PO Box 6682, Silverwater NSW 1811
Helpline: 1300 552 406 | Fax: 02 9647 0026 | Email: contact@foodauthority.nsw.gov.au
www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au