Proposal P245 - Minor Omnibus Amendments to Volume 2 of the Food Standards Code
Final Assessment Report
8 May 2002
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) raised Proposal P245 under section 21/23 and section 36 of the Australia New Zealand Food Authority Act 1991 (ANZFA Act) to deal with a number of errors of minor significance or complexity in Volume 2 of the Food Standards Code (Volume 2). The amendments identified for inclusion in Proposal P245 consisted of items identified as being of minor complexity or significance due to their nature of being simple: typographical errors; inconsistencies; grammatical errors etc. Consequently ANZFA raised a Proposal P245 utilising section 36 of the ANZFA Act to allow the Initial/Draft Assessment Report to be combined into one, thereby omitting a round of public comment that would ordinarily have follow an Initial Assessment Report (s.21).
The proposed amendments have been assessed by ANZFA as being of a minor significance or complexity, and were circulated to Senior Food Officers (SFOs) around Australia in October 2001 for their comment.
ANZFA prepared a minor omnibus Proposal (P245) to correct errors of minor significance or complexity (including typographical errors, inconsistencies, misspellings, grammatical errors, omissions, deletions and minor labelling amendments) identified in Volume 2. The proposed draft variations contained in this Proposal have been prepared to correct minor errors identified since the adoption of Volume 2.
The Initial/Draft Assessment Report was approved by the ANZFA Board in November 2001. It was advertised for public comment on 12 December 2001 until 23 January 2002. No issues were raised with regard to the proposed amendments contained in the Initial/Draft Assessment Report. However, two submitters identified other additional potential errors in Volume 2. The potential errors identified were not part of the Initial/Draft Assessment Report for amendment and cannot be corrected as part of this Proposal.
The potential additional errors identified by submitters will be assessed by ANZFA staff, and if necessary, included in a further minor omnibus amendment proposal . Of the submissions received, the majority supported the proposed amendments to Volume 2 and none opposed the proposed amendments. Consequently the drafting contained in the Initial/Draft Assessment Report has not been altered/amended for the purposes of the Final Assessment Report.
The Initial/Draft Assessment Report was approved by the ANZFA Board in November 2001. It was advertised for public comment on 12 December 2001 until 23 January 2002. No issues relating to the proposed amendments were raised during this comment period. The drafting from the Initial/Draft Assessment Report is the same in this Final Assessment Report. Two submitters identified a number of other potential errors in Volume 2. These will be assessed by ANZFA staff, and if necessary, included in the next minor omnibus amendment proposal .
Conclusion and Statement of Reasons
- The proposed draft variations contained in this Proposal have been prepared to correct errors of minor significance or complexity identified since the adoption of Volume 2 of the Food Standards Code.
- The correction of minor errors identified in Proposal P245 will ensure the information contained in Volume 2 is correct and accurate thereby ensuring the protection of public health and safety through the inclusion of correct information in the Standards in Volume 2 with which compliance is required.
- The correction of minor errors in Volume 2 will also ensure information provided to consumers in accord with Standards contained in Volume 2 will be correct and comply with the Food Standards Code, thereby providing consumers with accurate and adequate information relating to food to enable consumers to make informed choices
- No extra issues or complications were raised during the public comment period.
- The draft variations, from the Initial/Draft Assessment Report consequently have not been altered in this Final Assessment Report.