Guidance resources
MPI has a wide range of guidance documents to help you with subjects from food safety in the home to complying with import requirements. Search for a document by subject or title.
- Homekill [PDF, 2055 KB]
This guide explains the requirements of the Animal Products Act 1999 in relation to homekill and recreational catch. It also includes key information on animal welfare and recommendations for food safety.
The purpose of the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act 1997 is to:
(1) manage risks (public health, animal welfare, trade, agricultural security);
(2) ensure that the use of agricultural compounds does not result in breaches of domestic food residue standards;
(3) ensure the provision of sufficient consumer information about agricultural compounds.
Conditions are placed on product registrations to help achieve this purpose.
Verifiers have raised a number of questions regarding requirements where there are differences between Chinese and NZ legislation for the labelling of Infant Formula, Follow-on Formula and Formulated Supplementary Foods for Young Children. MPI have compiled the questions below along with the current legislation and guidance. Additional advice is also supplied for verifiers in response to the questions raised.
Bacillus cereus is a spore-forming bacterium that occurs naturally in many kinds of foods and can cause illness in humans. It can form spores that are resistant to heating and dehydration and can therefore survive cooking and dry storage.
Guide to provide the options from RMP businesses who want to manage food safety of non-animal product foods within a Risk Management Programme.
This guidance document has been developed to explain the requirements that apply to the procurement and supply of wild and game estate animals into the regulated food chain and to assist certified suppliers and certified game estate supplier to meet those requirements.
- Food Standard: Tutin in Honey [PDF, 116 KB]
This guide has been published to assist beekeepers, packers and exporters of honey to comply with the Food Standard: Tutin in Honey. The standard has been developed to ensure that dangerous levels of tutin do not occur in honey sold in New Zealand or exported.
A fact sheet to assist New Zealand food producers and growers exporting product to Australia to meet the new Australian country of origin food labelling rules. The new rules become mandatory on 1 July 2018.
- Scope of Operations - Custom Food Control Plan [PDF, 511 KB]
This document provides a mapping between the Scope of Operations Cards and the Sectors and Fields in MAPS.
This guide sets out the detailed information on what a food label needs to include. Anyone who is developing or checking food labels using the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code might find this helpful. The labelling guide applies only to food for sale in New Zealand. The guide consists of a series of tables and flowcharts. These have been designed to be worked through section by section to identify information that would be required on a product label.
The Ministry for Primary Industries is publishing this document to provide guidance on how to ensure food safety and animal welfare if spreading rocks and minerals on land (including landfarming).