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Horticulture sector section 40 applications

UPDATE – 5 October 2018

Following consultation, we've assessed these horticulture sector section 40 applications. A summary of submissions is available to download.

Why we consulted

With the upcoming deadline for existing businesses in the horticulture sector to register and operate under the Food Act 2014, 3 food safety schemes were submitted for approval as template food control plans (under section 40 of the Act). The templates submitted were:

  • GLOBALGAP
  • New Zealand Good Agricultural Practice (NZGAP)
  • the British Retail Consortium (BRC) for horticultural operators.

Have your say

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has evaluated the 3 plans to ensure they meet the requirements of the Food Act 2014 and allow businesses in the horticulture sector to produce and trade safe and suitable food.

MPI wanted your feedback on these applications. Do you see any problems with approving any of these templates?

The consultation ran from 10 July until 5pm on 25 July 2018.

Consultation documents

The templates are only available to scheme members. However, you can download MPI's evaluations of the templates here.

Making your submission

The consultation closed at 5pm on 25 July 2018.

Background information

The Food Act 2014 came into effect in March 2016. It introduced a risk-based approach to managing food safety. Higher-risk food businesses need to use a food control plan. These are written plans that identify food safety risks and set out how they will be managed on a day-to-day basis.

The Food Act 2014 requires that food business operators take responsibility for ensuring food is safe and suitable. Businesses need to be aware of the risks and be able to show how they are managing these. Section 40 of the Food Act 2014 allows MPI's chief executive to approve a template or model FCP which has been developed outside of MPI.

This allows food businesses or industry groups to:

  • develop their own food control plans and have them approved so that each business using the plan does not need to submit its plan for individual evaluation
  • make adjustments to the MPI templates to include multi-site or multi-business specific procedures or practices, or to reflect common language/terminology used in the business and have those changes approved.

Submissions are public information

Note, that any submission you make becomes public information. People can ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we have to make submissions available unless we have a good reason for withholding it (refer to sections 6 and 9 of the OIA).

Tell us if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in your submission. Reasons might include that it's commercially sensitive or it's personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold information can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may tell us to release it.

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