ANZFA Annual Report 2001 - 2002

Part A - [ PDF 325 kb ]

Contents, Chairman's Foreword, Managing Director's Foreword, Corporate Overview, Portfolio Outcome, Program Reports

Part B - Apendices 1, 3 - 10  [ PDF 226 kb ]

Appendix 1- Applications and Proposals processed; Appendix 3 - Staffing overview; Appendix 4 -Functions and powers of ANZFA; Appendix 5 - Current publications; Appendix 6 - Categories of documents held; Appendix 7 - Use of Consultants; Appendix 8 - ANZFA Representation; Appendix 9 - ANZFA Board members qualifications, experience and atendance; Appendix 10: Other reporting requirements

Part C - Appendix 2 - Financials

 

Managing Director's Foreword

This year was ANZFA' s tenth birthday, having begun as the National Food Authority in August 1991. It has been a year of many changes: the changes to the new Food Standards Codebegan to take effect; we changed the way we do our planning; we changed the way we do our processing and we changed the way we work with our stakeholders. We also managed our metamorphosis into a new organisation - Food Standards Australia New Zealand which took effect on 1 July 2002.

Change to the new Food Standards Code

On 20 December 2002, the change to the new joint Food Standards Code as the sole code for Australia and New Zealand will be completed. It is an example of regulation at its best: minimum regulation for the purpose, outcome-based and containing benefits for industry and consumers.

Nevertheless, we recognised that during the transitional period it would involve significant adjustments for the food industry. ANZFA has, therefore, provided very extensive assistance to industry to help them comply with the new Code. We have maintained an industry help desk. In addition, we have issued a set of user guides for industry and have made our nutrition panel calculator available on our website to enable businesses to produce nutrition information panels from the recipes of their food. We have also prepared checklists and advice for environmental health officers and other enforcers of the Code to help them with their task.

The new Code harmonises Australian food standards and New Zealand food regulations, condensing 103 standards in the old Australian Food Standards Code and about 270 standards in the New Zealand Food Regulations, into 29 broader standards.

I have been concerned, throughout this year, that, while many food businesses have acted quickly during the two-year transition period to make any necessary modifications to products to ensure compliance with the new requirements, some others have not been so responsive. We are continuing to issue reminders of the need to act quickly and are expanding our capacity to provide advice to those who are still unsure about their obligations.

The new Code has many benefits for industry and consumers. It will enable industry to become more innovative in the foods it produces and technologies it employs. It will also provide consumers with much more information than in the past to make healthier and better-informed food choices.

Labelling

Changes to labelling requirements will make it easier for people to identify possible hazards to their health, by giving more information about substances in the foods to which they are allergic or which could raise their risk of food related illness such as heart disease.

I believe, however, that there is little point in requiring labelling reforms if people are unable to understand what food labels mean. As a result, we have focused on preparing simple material in partnership with businesses and health professionals and organisations to help consumers understand how to use food label information to make healthy choices.

The most recent major study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 1999, on the burden of disease and injury in Australia, demonstrated the important role nutrition plays in the health of the community. Using the Disability-Adjusted Life Year approach - equivalent to a lost year of healthy life - to assess the burden of disease, the study found that cardiovascular diseases were the leading cause of the overall disease burden, followed by type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer. The risks of diseases such as these can be significantly reduced by dietary changes.

Our food labelling poster has been widely distributed to supermarkets, health professionals and family doctors. We also launched a video for schools on food labelling. We hope that these will help the population in general to make more effective choices between foods, in the interests of their health.

Outstanding matters from joint Food Standards Code

Later in 2002-2003, we will be continuing our work to finalise reviews of a number of old standards which were not reviewed on time for inclusion in the version of the joint Code adopted in late 2000. These include the review of health claims and country of origin labelling both of which are awaiting the provision of policy guidelines by the Ministerial Council.

Infant formula

ANZFA has spent a long time finalising its review of the infant formula standard to bring it up to date with the latest scientific knowledge on infants' nutrition needs. We believe that the new standard, which has been approved by the Ministerial Council, is a major step in the right direction. It is a considerable improvement on the previous outdated standard. We also recognise that this is a constantly evolving area of food science and technology and that the new infant formula standard may also have to evolve with emerging scientific knowledge in the future.

Evaluation

With such comprehensive changes to food regulation, it is important to ANZFA that we not only institute reform but also evaluate its success to assist us to identify any adjustments which experience shows to be needed. Our recently established small evaluation section is carrying out this function.

Safe food handling

In January 2002, we released the results of our first stage of the first evaluation project which was on the safety of food handling. The research, intended to be a benchmark to evaluate the progress of the first three food safety standards, has shown that the majority of the food businesses surveyed, such as food manufacturers, food retailers, child care centres, schools hospitals, cafes and restaurants, know about and are implementing safe food handling practices. Most significantly, food businesses with a food safety program in place scored better on food safety than those without.

It was disappointing, however, that a small but significant proportion of businesses were not aware of even the basics of food safety, such as the need to keep high risk food at the right temperature, to protect food from contamination, to clean and sanitise food preparation equipment properly, and to follow personal hygiene and illness management procedures. It makes good business sense for food business to fully implement the new standards as soon as possible - not only to ensure they comply with their legal obligations, but also to protect their own reputation and their customers' health.

Evidence continues to mount that mandatory Food Safety Programs (currently they are only available in a model standard for voluntary adoption by States and Territories) can greatly reduce the threat of food-borne illness to the Australian population. Our estimates in 1999 put the incidence of food poisoning in Australia at 11,500 cases a day, mostly unreported. Recently released figures show that, in fact, it is far above this level.

Food labelling

Early research results for a second evaluation project were released in March 2002. This involved qualitative research on food labelling which showed that consumers both appreciate and use the wide range of information on food labels. However, the research also indicated that consumers want to learn more about exactly what labels mean.

International food safety issues

There were changes in the wider environment in which we operate. The year saw an international food scare about a known carcinogen, chloropropanols, found in soy and oyster sauces, and concerns about levels of a probable cancer-causing agent, acrylamide, that may be found in baked and fried carbohydrate foods. These added to the existing concerns internationally about the safety of the food supply caused by outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) and the unease felt by consumers about the introduction of new foods and new technologies for producing them.

BSE

In July 2001, a certification system was introduced to support the new food standard that requires that beef and beef products sold in Australia come from cattle that are free from BSE. These measures replace the provisional suspension of beef and beef products from 30 countries which was introduced in January 2001. The certification system uses a risk-management method to strengthen our ability to protect the health and safety of Australians by keeping the BSE agent out of our food supply. This innovative approach was essential as there is no scientific test which can detect the presence of this disease in processed beef products.

Other food emergencies

In Australia, there were food emergencies from risks of which we were already aware. In April 2002, for instance, more than 250 people had to seek hospital treatment in Melbourne after an outbreak of food-borne disease at a community festival and there was also the tragic case of a thirteen year old boy from NSW who died from an allergic reaction to peanut butter during a school trip. These food emergencies remind us of the importance of ANZFA's work on reducing the incidence of food poisoning through the food safety standards and our labelling work on allergens.

New foods and technologies

Food irradiation

Food Standards Ministers agreed in September 2001 to permit the limited use of food irradiation for the decontamination of herbs, spices and herbal infusions. This is the first permission under the umbrella food irradiation standard adopted by food ministers in 1999. They also agreed, for health and safety reasons, to phase out the use of ethylene oxide over the next two years. It has been used historically as a means of decontaminating many foods but has been shown to be a carcinogen.

GM foods

Five genetically modified (GM) foods were approved this year by the Ministerial Council following our recommendation. This brings the number of applications for GM foods that have been approved to 17 with four more still being assessed. All of these applications have been confined to genetically modified plants.

Industrial hemp

No novel food or food technology is permitted on the market in Australia and New Zealand unless it has passed a stringent scientific safety assessment by ANZFA and has been found to be at least as safe as conventional food or technologies.

An application for the use of industrial hemp as a novel food was rejected by ANZFSC. It has very low levels of THC and so has no hallucinogenic properties. It is also a good source of unsaturated fats. However, Ministers decided to retain the total prohibition on the use of industrial hemp as a novel food because they believe that the use of hemp in food may send a confused message to consumers about the acceptability and safety of the high THC cannabis. There were also concerns about law enforcement issues, particularly from a policing perspective as there would be difficulties in visually distinguishing between high THC cannabis and low THC industrial hemp products.

ANZFA's international involvement

The global nature of our food supply has yet again become apparent through food emergencies such as BSE and chloropropanols. The days are long gone when a country can regulate its food supply in isolation. This is why ANZFA places such a high importance on its international links and cooperative initiatives with other countries. Appendix 8 to this Annual Report gives a list of the very extensive international involvement of our staff.

Canadian visit

In particular this year, ANZFA hosted a delegation from Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The delegation participated in a workshop with us examining our consultative mechanisms to ensure transparency, particularly in the context of regulatory requirements for GM foods.

Australia and Canada have very high levels of common interests and shared objectives. The work of the Food Directorate of Health Canada and ANZFA have very similar responsibilities, though it is interesting to note that Canada has around three times the number of staff to undertake this work. Australia and Canada signed a Memorandum Of Understanding( MOU) in April 2001, to exchange information on applications submitted by industry for approval of genetically modified foods. As a result of the delegation visit, it was agreed to extend the MOU to cover an expanded range of issues of common interest. and to investigate the possibility of undertaking projects together to save resources and get better outcomes through peer review.

Regional projects

Our Regional Projects Program continued its success in winning bids for funding to conduct technical assistance and capacity building projects in the Asia Pacific region. ANZFA's regional work provides win-win outcomes for Australia and New Zealand and neighbouring countries. It enhances the capacity of developing countries in the region and enhances the capacity of Australia and New Zealand and their neighbours to trade food. At the same time it provides professional development for ANZFA staff. Through the work of the Regional Projects Program, ANZFA also contributes to meeting national objectives of providing technical assistance to developing countries in food standards related areas.

Of particular interest during 2001-2002 was the winning and delivery of two projects which were completely cost recovered - training in risk assessment for developing member economies of APEC; and technical assistance to APEC and ASEAN member economies through the development and implementation of the Directory of Food Trade Contacts. All of this work is made possible by funding from AusAid, APEC (TILF Fund), New Zealand s Official Development Assistance Program and the World Health Organization.

The Regional Projects program has a number of new regional assistance proposals to carry into 2002-2003.

Streamlined and improved processes

The year saw the implementation of new internal systems to improve both the efficiency and the quality of our standards work. We had previously consulted with our stakeholders to identify where we need to improve.

During the year, staff were given additional training in risk management and in our new standards development systems and assessment report formats. Through this we are aiming at making our reports and regulatory decisions more readable. We are streamlining the reports to remove duplication and to provide better structure. This should save staff and readers time. We have also considerably boosted our efforts in the early scoping stage of applications and proposals to assist in ensuring a comprehensive consideration of the risks that are being managed.

In addition to this work, we continually seek out new ways of delivering our services to increase our productivity and efficiency. Some of these improvements are internal, such as improved computer systems and administrative arrangements. Others, such as our electronic mail-out facility, are very obvious to our stakeholders. Together these improvements help maximise the amount of funds available for our core work.

The year ahead

The next financial year will be another one of change for us as Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

The changes we have made this year to improve our environmental scanning, strategic planning and our risk management processes have positioned us well to take on the new challenges. The improvements we have made to our consultative and information arrangements will allow us to take the best advantage of community knowledge and interest in food regulation as we manage the changes.

Under the new legislation, the Board will set food standards which must be consistent with policy guidelines set by the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council which will also have the authority to ask Food Standards Australia New Zealand to review standards which do not meet such guidelines. Food Standards Australia New Zealand will be required to retain key features of the ANZFA standards development processes, such as public consultation, openness and reliance on robust evidence and rigorous science.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand will also be taking on a wider whole-of-food-chain approach in Australia through bringing together, for the first time, standards for primary production and processing with standards for the other links in the food chain. These new arrangements are also currently being finalised.

Thank you ANZFA staff

As this is the last Annual Report for the Australia New Zealand Food Authority, I would like to give a special thanks to the staff for their sustained hard work and dedication over the last few years. They have coped admirably with a steady diet of change and unusually high work-loads. I know they will continue to do so as staff of Food Standards Australia New Zealand and will continue their work of protecting the safety of food for people in Australia and New Zealand with professionalism, scientific integrity and transparency.

I would also like to thank the ANZFA Board members for their hard work and integrity. They have provided robust leadership and direction to our work. A wide variety of other individuals and organisations have also made significant contributions to the work of ANZFA. They include our ANZFA Scientific Fellows, other scientific collaborators who have worked with us to contribute their expertise on specific projects, representatives of industry and the consumer movement and public health and scientific bodies. They all deserve a significant share of the credit for the further progress made in improving our food standards. 

Ian Lindenmayer
Managing Director

 

ANZFA  Annual  Report 2001 - 2002

Part A - [ PDF 325 kb ]
Contents, Chairman's Foreword, Managing Director's Foreword, Corporate Overview, Portfolio Outcome, Program Reports

Part B - Apendices 1, 3 - 10  [ PDF 226 kb ]
Appendix 1- Applications and Proposals processed; Appendix 3 - Staffing overview; Appendix 4 -Functions and powers of ANZFA; Appendix 5 - Current publications; Appendix 6 - Categories of documents held; Appendix 7 - Use of Consultants; Appendix 8 - ANZFA Representation; Appendix 9 - ANZFA Board members qualifications, experience and atendance; Appendix 10: Other reporting requirements

Part C [ PDF 993 kb ]
Appendix 2 - Financials