Senator the Hon Brett Mason

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister
for Health and Ageing

APEC Forum aims to improve Health and Food Safety Standards in the Asia - Pacific

I am pleased to announce that the first meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Food Safety Cooperation Forum will be held from 2 – 4 April 2007 in the Hunter Valley, NSW.  Australia will co-chair the forum in partnership with China.

Food safety is important and affects us all. Foodborne infections not only kill and cause significant physical distress to large numbers of people each year, foodborne illness imposes major costs, including the burden on medical and hospital services, lost production from sick employees, disruption to the food trade and loss of public confidence in food safety and standards.

Australia has stringent standards and regulations for the production, transport, storage and preparation of food that are managed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) .  I am confident that through the participation of FSANZ as co-chair of the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum, Australia will be able to take a regional leadership role to facilitate and coordinate cooperation on food safety issues.

APEC members agreed in November 2006 to establish the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum in recognition of the need to strengthen food cooperation and prioritise capacity building in food regulation.  Our aim is to encourage regional economies to work together to improve health and food safety for all people in the region by harmonising food safety regulations with international standards.  This will also facilitate greater trade in food products throughout the region.

The forum will operate as an advisory body to APEC (via the Sub-Committee Standards and Conformance) providing APEC food safety regulators with an opportunity to guide and influence the allocation of funding to food safety capacity-building activities in the Asia-Pacific region.

The APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum assists participating members to increase their technical capacity to develop domestic food safety regulatory systems, including harmonising their food inspection and assurance and certification regimes with international standards.  Improving food safety and standards levels throughout the region will not only contribute to the region’s development and provide economic benefits, it will improve the health and well-being of the entire population.

For further information on the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum and to register to attend the meeting, contact Ms Lydia Buchtmann, Communication Manager, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, (02) 6271 2620 or 0411 268 525.

Media contacts:         Ted Lapkin, Senator Mason’s office 0408 730 128
                                     Lydia Buchtmann, FSANZ 02 6271 2620 or 0401 714 265