Implementation Report for the FSANZ Evaluation Strategy 2001- 2003:
January 2001 to October 2002.
Full Report [ pdf 209 kb | Word document 148 kb ]
Executive summary
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has initiated a scientific and technical evaluation to measure the impact of implementing the new joint Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code). This Code was developed following a major review of food standards in both countries, adopted in November 2000 and gazetted in Australia in December 2000 and in New Zealand in February 2001. A two-year transition period from ’December 2000 was given for the food industry to implement the new regulations. During this period FSANZ and relevant jurisdictions have had ongoing communications strategies to inform stakeholders of the Code requirements.
The FSANZ Evaluation Strategy 2001-03 was developed in 2001 after an extensive consultation process and was approved by the FSANZ Board in 2002. This Strategy provided the framework for an outcome evaluation of the Code and is to be reported in two stages, an implementation report and an outcomes report on the effectiveness of the new regulatory measures. This is the Implementation Report for the period from January 2001 to June 2002 from the FSANZ Evaluation Unit.
Key regulatory changes, such as the Australian National Food Safety Standards, general labelling standards in Australia and New Zealand and the food additive standard in Australia and New Zealand were identified as priorities for evaluation. The evaluation activities outlined in the Strategy were grouped according to two major objectives of FSANZ when developing food standards: the protection of public health and safety objective (Australian safe food handling survey, intense sweetener survey and the allergen labelling survey); and the provision of adequate information to consumers to enable them to make an informed choice objective (labelling surveys for consumers, labelling survey for other stakeholders and the label monitoring survey).
This report comments on the progress of standard implementation as well as the associated evaluation activities. To date, the Australian safe food handling benchmark survey has been completed, as has the qualitative research on labelling issues with consumers and other stakeholders in Australia and New Zealand. Follow-up quantitative research on labelling issues with consumers is underway, as are the intense sweetener survey, the allergen labelling survey and the label monitoring project. The results from these baseline data collections in Australia and New Zealand will enable FSANZ to plan follow-up surveys to evaluate the impact of the Code.
In 2003-2004, FSANZ will review the Strategy in consultation with the Data and Evaluation Steering Committee and the stakeholder Advisory Group on Evaluation to develop a plan for implementing the Strategy from 2004 onwards. According to the review objectives, the Code was also intended to provide greater scope to manufacturers for innovative practices and products, to provide consumers with better access to information and to make enforcement easier through a simplified set of standards that focus on the key issues affecting public health and safety. It is envisaged that there will be a broader focus in the future to cover these wider issues outlined in the review objectives, to assess how appropriate the new regulatory measures were in achieving the needs of key stakeholder groups, such as the food industry and enforcement officers. Other data gaps will be identified to enable future evaluations of key standards introduced since the review, such as the primary production standards for Australia only.
The recommendations arising from the evaluation process will feed into the FSANZ planning cycle for consideration in any future decisions by FSANZ, and where relevant, by the Food Regulation Standing Committee or its sub-committees
Full Report [ pdf 209 kb | Word document 148 kb ]