UPDATE – 30 JUNE 2022
Notice issued
Today we published the Animal Products Notice: National Microbiological Database Programme. This comes into force on 1 July 2022.
Minor amendments may have been made to the notice following the consultation, which closed on 16 June 2022. New Zealand Food Safety has prepared a 'tracking document' for the notice so you can see what changes have been made to the existing notice.
Animal Products Notice: National Microbiological Database Programme [PDF, 717 KB]
Tracking table [PDF, 410 KB]
Consultation background
New Zealand Food Safety sought feedback on the Animal Products Notice: National Microbiological Database Programme. The Notice has been updated and aligned as part of the regulatory redesign project.
Find out about the regulatory redesign project
The National Microbiological Database Programme is a standardised microbiological sampling and testing programme to provide ongoing monitoring of microbiological process control across all red meat and poultry industry participants.
The proposed Notice replaced the Animal Product Notice: Specifications for National Microbiological Database Programme (15 April 2021) which is revoked by clause 3(2) of Schedule 1 of the Animal Products Regulations 2021.
Key changes in the proposed Notice
- Terminology changed around certified trainers and approved samplers (now called level 1 sampler and level 2 sampler).
- Definitions updated and aligned with the new regulations and notices.
- Duplication removed.
- Clauses re-written for clarity.
- Clauses removed that anticipate any enforcement actions taken by the Director-General.
There have been no technical changes to the sampling requirements, testing requirements, or microbiological limits set out by the Notice.
Consultation documents
Draft Animal Products Notice: National Microbiological Database Programme [PDF, 1.2 MB]
About the regulatory redesign project
Through regulatory redesign, New Zealand Food Safety and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) aim to make it easier for businesses operating under the Animal Products Act 1999 and the Wine Act 2003 to find and comply with their legal requirements. This is done by:
- removing repetition, enhancing accessibility, and making the language clearer
- making legislative requirements easier to access and understand
- ensuring our trading partners better understand our requirements, which will help MPI provide assurances.
To make these improvements, MPI has worked alongside industry representatives from the dairy, seafood, poultry, pet food, red meat, and their accreditation bodies.
Find out more about the regulatory redesign project
Consultation on the regulatory redesign of animal products and wine regulations
Submissions are public information
Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.
People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.
If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.
