1997-1998
Australia's Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services, Budget Document 1997-98
The Government has removed a source of uncertainty for the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) and its partners by providing $9.5 million in funding over the next four years to undertake work in three key areas to reform the current system of food regulation.
Fact Sheet 17
Reform of food regulation in Australia
The Government has removed a source of uncertainty for the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) and its partners by providing $9.5 million in funding over the next four years to undertake work in three key areas to reform the current system of food regulation.National food hygiene standard
Food-borne illness results in considerable costs to the community and to industry.
ANZFA has publicly released a draft food hygiene standard and explanatory notes. The additional funding will enable the further development and implementation of this standard and associated codes of practice.
The new national standard will ensure safe food handling practices and will help to minimise cases of food-borne illnesses. This will result in short and long-term health care savings, and improved business profitability in both domestic and export food markets through enhanced consumer confidence.
The new system will be developed over the next three years, with staged implementation from 1999. The Government has allocated $0.9 million in 1997-98, $1.7 million in 1998-99, and $1.2 million in 1999-2000.
Review of food regulation
The Government has committed $0.3 million to enable a review of current food regulation and ANZFA legislation to be undertaken during 1997-98. A review is necessary to reduce the regulatory burden and improve industry competitiveness. The removal of regulatory obstacles is essential to encourage the growth and export development of the Australian food industry.
Extra ANZFA funding for ongoing changes to the Food Standards Code and to create a new joint Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code
The Government has also committed more than $5 million over the next four years to provide additional resources to enable ANZFA to meet the full range of its statutory obligations, including processing proposals from industry to vary the Food Standards Code to facilitate industry innovation and more efficient production techniques. This funding will also allow the development of a joint Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, consistent with Australia's obligations under an agreement between the Australian and New Zealand Governments.
This funding is required due to changes in implementing the Government's decision on cost sharing arrangements. These cost sharing arrangements will now be subject to the findings of the comprehensive review of food regulations.
The breakdown of new ANZFA funding for the reform of food regulation over the next four years is:
1997-98 $m | 1998-99 $m | 1999-2000 $m | 2000-2001 $m |
1.9 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 1.3 |
Contact: Winsome McCaughey, Chairperson, ANZFA. Phone: (06) 271 2200
