Proposed Animal Products Notice: New Zealand Animal Products Standards

Background to this consultation

New Zealand Food Safety sought your input on the proposed Animal Products Notice: New Zealand Animal Products Standards (the proposed Notice). This proposed Notice is a consolidation of 17 current documents, comprising 11 notices and 6 additional documents.

The proposed Notice applied to producers, suppliers and processors of animal products such as dairy, fish, poultry, meat and honey, and people who transport and store these products. It was also relevant to verifiers and evaluators of these businesses, and any associated accreditation bodies. 

We'd sought your feedback on the proposed Notice, in particular if:

• it was easy to navigate (for example, if it was easier to find the requirements that apply to your industry)
• requirements were easy to understand (for example, if the requirements were clear and not ambiguous)
• there was anything you think should not be there, or anything we missed.

Full details were in the consultation document.

Consultation documents

Proposed Animal Products Notice: New Zealand Animal Products Standards [PDF, 2.4 MB]

Regulatory Redesign New Zealand Animal Products Standards [PDF, 623 KB]

Notices being consolidated

The proposed Notice consolidated existing requirements set out in the following 11 Notices:

• Animal Products (Risk Management Programme Specifications) Notice 2008
• Animal Products Notice: Risk Management Programme Specifications Amendment and Requirements for Risk Management Programme Outlines Revocation 2020
• Animal Products Notice: Specifications for Products Intended for Human Consumption
• Animal Products Notice Specifications for Products Intended for Animal Consumption
• Animal Products (Dairy Processing Specifications) Notice 2011
• Animal Products Notice: Dairy Recognised Agencies & Persons Specifications
• Animal Products (Recognised Agencies & Person Specifications Notice 2015
• Animal Products (Requirement for Recognised Agencies to Notify of Termination of Contract) Notice 2008
• Animal Products Notice: Specifications for the Ante-mortem and Post-mortem Examination of Poultry Intended for Human or Animal Consumption 2021
• Animal Products Notice: Ante-mortem & Post-mortem Examination of Mammals, Ostrich and Emu Intended for Human Consumption
• Animal Products Notice: Export Verification Requirements 2020

The proposed Notice aligned to the structure of the proposed Animal Products Regulations. The Notice was written with generic sections that set out requirements that apply to all operators (such as RMP and RCS operators), and requirements particular to one industry, in specific sectors (such as red meat).

Comparison tables

The following 2 tracking sheets were to help you locate where requirements moved and to help update your existing documents and systems:

Comparison tables – from the current documents to the new Notice [PDF, 4.2 MB]

Comparison tables – from the new Notice to the current documents [PDF, 2.9 MB]

After the consultation closed

Submissions were analysed to consider any changes needed to the proposed stand-alone notices.

The new legislative framework will likely require businesses operating under the Animal Products Act 1999 to update their documents and systems. We are working to ensure arrangements are in place to support businesses with these changes.

About the regulatory redesign

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
• make legislative requirements easier to access and understand
• ensure 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, petfood, red meat, and their accreditation bodies.

Find out more

Redesign of animal products and wine regulations and notices

Consultation on regulatory redesign of animal products and wine regulations

Submissions are public information

Submissions made in consultations become public information. People can ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make a submission available unless we have a good reason for withholding it. Explained in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

Let us know if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in any submissions you have made. Reasons might include, it is commercially sensitive, or it is personal information.  However, any decision the Ministry for Primary Industries makes to withhold information can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may tell us to release it.