SEVENTIETH MEETING

Canberra

19-20 September 2001

SUMMARY OF KEY OUTCOMES

Recommendations relating to Food Standards matters

The ANZFA Board has responsibility under the Australia New Zealand Food Authority Act 1991  to consider standards matters and make recommendations to members of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council (which is composed of Health Ministers from the Commonwealth, States, Territories and New Zealand, as Lead Ministers, as well as a number of other participating Ministers nominated by each jurisdiction, under the Food Standards Agreement signed in November 2000) to amend the Food Standards Code.   The Ministers consider the recommendations from the Board and decisions are determined by majority vote, before the Code can be amended.   Ministers can reject the recommendation if they so wish, or amend it, or return the recommendation to the Board for reconsideration.

NOTE:  Prior to the proclamation of the 2001 ANZFA Act amendments, the present Act continues to operate.   However, for the purposes of a transition to the new arrangements, a practice has been developed to use particular terms contained in the amending legislation.   A list of the new terminology with the corresponding counterparts from the current Act is provided:

For Applications

Initial Assessment	Preliminary Assessment - section 13
Draft Assessment	Full Assessment - section 15
Final Assessment	Inquiry - section 17

For Proposals

Initial Assessment	Proposal prepared - section 21
Draft Assessment	Full Assessment - section 23
Final Assessment	Inquiry - section 24

Proposal P247 - Definition of Carbohydrate

The Board considered a Final Assessment of a Proposal to permit the calculation of carbohydrate by difference or as available carbohydrate.   This amendment is required to address certain anomalies that may arise as a result of the current definition of carbohydrate (carbohydrate by difference).   The proposed draft variation to Volume 2 of theFood Standards Codewill now be recommended to Ministers for adoption.

Proposal P249 - GM Stock in Trade

The Board considered a Final Assessment of a proposal which will allow the continued sale of foods after the commencement dates for the labelling provisions for genetically modified (GM) foods (Standards A18 or 1.5.2), provided those foods were manufactured and packaged before those dates.   The stock in trade measures are proposed to apply for 12 months from the commencement date of 7 December 2001.   GM foods manufactured or packaged after that date will be required to comply with the labelling provisions.   The proposed draft variations to theFood Standards Code will now be recommended to Ministers for adoption.

Proposal P243 - Chloropropanols in soy and oyster sauces

The Board is progressing this Proposal as a matter of urgency under section 37 of the ANZFA Act,   based on the protection of public health and safety, as the chloropropanol compounds found in some soy sauces are recognised carcinogens.

After a short round of public consultation, the Board has agreed to draft variations to amend the Food Standards Code to provide for maximum levels of chloropropanol compounds.   The draft variations to the Food Standards Code will now be recommended to Ministers for adoption.

GM Commodities

The Board considered the Final Assessments of the following genetically modified commodities:

• Application A372 - Herbicide-tolerant and pollination-controlled canola
• Application A375 - Herbicide-tolerant corn
• Application A378 - Herbicide-tolerant sugar beet
• Application A379 - Herbicide-tolerant cotton

The proposed draft variations to the Food Standards Code will now be recommended to Ministers for adoption.

Application A411 - Pasteurisation of orange juice & labelling of unpasteurised juice

The Board considered the Final Assessment of an Application which will require the labelling of packaged juices which have not been pasteurised.   The Application was in response to a food-poisoning outbreak in South Australia related to unpasteurised orange juice which had been contaminated withSalmonella.   The proposed draft variations to theFood Standards Code will now be recommended to Ministers for adoption.

Application A419 - Sorbic acid in sausage casings

The Board considered the Final Assessment of an Application which seeks to extend the use of sorbic acid and its salts as preservatives in edible collagen casings for coarse cut sausages such as bratwurst.   Sorbic acid and its salts are already permitted for use in a variety of other foods.   The proposed draft variations to theFood Standards Codewill now be recommended to Ministers for adoption

Proposal P228 - Amendments to Food Additives Standard

The Board considered the Final Assessment of a Proposal which is seeking to make a number of minor changes to the Food Additives Standard in Volume 2 of the Code, including the correction of typographical errors and improvement of consistency.   The proposed draft variations to the Food Standards Code will now be recommended to Ministers for adoption.

Application A417 - Tall-oil non-esterified phytosterols

The Board considered the Draft Assessment of an Application which seeks permission for the use of tall oil phytosterols in table spreads.   Tall oil phytosterols are reported to reduce plasma cholesterol levels.   Phytosterol esters are currently permitted in table spread products.   The Draft Assessment will now be released in the near future for a further round of public consultation before further consideration by the Board.

Application A422 - Antibiotic MRLs

The Board considered the Draft Assessment of a number of antibiotic maximum residue limits (MRLs) in foods.   The Application seeks to include permission for a new antibiotic - Avilamycin, to remove permission for a number of MRLs and include a temporary MRL for oxytetracycline in honey.   The Draft Assessment will now be released in the near future for a further round of public consultation before further consideration by the Board.

The Board also agreed to extend the time for consideration of this Application by six months and consideration of the Application by the Board will now have to be completed by 6 March 2002.

Application A435 - Lipase from genetically modifiedAspergillus oryzae

The Board considered the Draft Assessment of a lipase from a genetically modifiedAspergillus oryzae.   The lipase is used as a processing aid in the oils and fats industry to assist in purifying oils and in the food industry to improve emulsifying properties.   The Draft Assessment will now be released in the near future for a further round of public consultation before further consideration by the Board.

Proposal P242 - Foods for Special Medical Purposes

The Board agreed to an Initial Assessment for a Proposal relating to the development of a Standard for foods for special medical purposes.   The proposed Standard will principally apply to formulated food products used under medical supervision as part of therapy for individuals (including children) with either ongoing chronic medical conditions, or during acute phases of illness or disease.   The Initial Assessment will now be released in the near future for a first round of public consultation, before further consideration by the Board.

Proposal P237 - Country of Origin Labelling

The main focus of Proposal P237 is to assess the need for country of origin labelling provisions in the Volume 2 of the Code, within the context of harmonisation between Australia and New Zealand and to reconsider whether the general provisions in food law and fair trading are sufficient.

ANZFA recently sought public comment on a range of potential regulatory outcomes of this review in the context of its Initial Assessment.   The submissions received in relation to these options indicate that this will be a very complex issue that will require consideration of policy issues.   The Board has therefore referred the matter of country of origin labelling to the Ministerial Council for policy advice.  

Proposal P236 - Review of Sports Foods

The Board considered an issues paper (Initial Assessment Report) relating to the development of an Australian and New Zealand Standard for sports foods.   External advisory group meetings have already been held with key stakeholder   groups to discuss current issues with sports foods and these have been incorporated into the paper.   The Paper will be released in the near future for public consultation.

Other matters

Indigenous consultation

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

ANZFA has been working towards the establishment of a consultation strategy with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to ensure indigenous input into ANZFA' s food standards development process.  

The Board was briefed on a key step in developing the consultation strategy which was the hosting of two meetings with a range of people with an interest in food and nutrition for indigenous communities.   These meetings were held in Darwin and Alice Springs on 11 and 12 July 2001 respectively.   The meetings were attended by a range of representatives from indigenous organisations and ANZFA was represented by Dr Heather Yeatman from the Board and senior staff with responsibility for implementing strategies in this area.   Further consideration of issues raised and possible activities in this area is under way.

Maori Reference Group

The Board was given a progress report on the work of the Maori Reference Group which has been established to provide advice to ANZFA on Maori culture and community processes in relation to food issues.   The latest meeting of the Group was held in Wellington on 13 September.  

Equivalence

The Board considered a draft discussion paper on the general principles and approaches underpinning the assessment of equivalence, which has been developed in consultation with Australian and New Zealand Government agencies.   The paper considered issues involved in the development of   strategy for assessing the safety of foods produced by alternative processes, with an emphasis on microbial safety.   The Discussion paper will be released for targeted consultation in the near future.

Collaboration and provision of technical assistance in the Asia Pacific Region

The Board considered a progress report on the work undertaken by the ANZFA Regional Projects Program whose work involves policy input by way of support for Australia' s involvement in APEC, ASEAN and AFTA-CER work, as well as participating in technical assistance programs for APEC and ASEAN countries.

PHP outcomes

As part of ANZFA' s strategy to improve consultations with key stakeholder groups, regular forums have been held with key representatives from public health professional groups and senior ANZFA staff.   The primary focus of the forums has been to enable dialogue on key issues currently on the agenda of ANZFA.   The Board considered the outcomes of the Australian PHP Forum held on 16 August 2001 in Canberra.   A New Zealand PHP Forum was also held on 14 September 2001 in Wellington and a further report on this meeting will be considered by the Board at its next meeting.

Community Forum in Adelaide

The Board considered a report of the outcomes of the community forum held in conjunction with last Board meeting held in Adelaide.  

Progress with Steering Committee on Evaluation

At its meeting in May 2001, the Board agreed on the proposed process for developing a strategy for the evaluation of the review of the Australian Food Standards Codeand the resultingAustralia New Zealand Food Standards Code (which was gazetted in December 2000) that included the establishment of a Steering Committee with external ' experts' in evaluation and a stakeholder Advisory Group.   These groups have now been established and work has now commences on the implementation of the evaluation.

After discussion with the Commonwealth officials on the Advisory Group, ANZFA will be responsible for a scientific and technical evaluation of the impact of implementing the changes to food regulations, as adopted in December 2000 by Health Ministers and the original the terms of reference for the ANZFA Steering Committee and Advisory Group have been revised to reflect this.   Results of the evaluation process and resulting recommendations on food standards regulatory policy issues will be forwarded to the ANZFA Board after consideration and comment by the Advisory Group and Steering Committee.