Proposed changes to the Simply Safe & Suitable template food control plan and relevant food notices

Background to this consultation

New Zealand Food Safety invited comments on proposed changes to 3 documents:

Simply Safe & Suitable Template Food Control Plan
Food Notice: Requirements for Food Control Plans and National Programmes
Food Notice: Food Service and Food Retail Business Food Control Plan templates issued under section 39.

This consultation would have been of interest to food businesses registered under the Food Act 2014, registration authorities, and verifiers.

Submissions closd at 5pm on 14 November 2022.

Consultation documents

Draft Simply Safe & Suitable template food control plan [PDF, 3.9 MB]

Draft Food Notice: Requirements for Food Control Plans and National Programmes [PDF, 345 KB]

Draft Food Notice: Food Service and Food Retail Business Food Control Plan templates issued under section 39 [PDF, 279 KB]

Review project

New Zealand Food Safety started a template review project in October 2021. The purpose of the project was to review and update 5 templates provided under the Food Act 2014:

the Simply Safe & Suitable Template Food Control Plan
My Food Plan
National Programme guidance documents 1, 2, and 3.

The project aimed to ensure that all content was technically and legally correct, accessible, easy to understand, and easy for food business operators to use.

Summaries of what was proposed

In this consultation you were asked to comment on the Simply Safe & Suitable Template Food Control Plan; Food Notice: Food Service and Food Retail Business Food Control Plan templates issued under section 39; and Food Notice: Requirements for Food Control Plans and National Programmes. To follow are brief summaries for your feedback.

Simply Safe & Suitable Template Food Control Plan

Proposed changes have been made to this template food control plan, based on feedback received during this project. These changes are highlighted in the draft Simply Safe & Suitable Template Food Control Plan. Proposed changes included:

changing the pH requirements for acidified rice in the 'Making sushi' card
adding time/temperature requirements for hot smoking seafood
allowing food businesses to prove their method for cooling freshly cooked food, and reheating food
expanding the scope of the 'Using acid to control bugs' requirements to allow for more than just pickling of meat, fruits and vegetables
updating the visual description of the 2 hour/4 hour requirement
adding a visual description of the cooling freshly cooked food requirement.

If you provided feedback during the project and would like to know the outcome of it, refer to the summary of suggested changes document.

Food Notice: Food Service and Food Retail Business Food Control Plan templates issued under section 39

We proposed to revoke the 'Food Control Plan – Food Service and Food Retail (S39-00001)' in schedule 1 of this Notice. We proposed that all businesses currently using this food control plan will have until 1 February 2024 to move to the 'Template Food Control Plan – Simply Safe & Suitable (S39-00004)' described in Schedule 2 of this Notice. While this transition is happening, there would be certain cards that businesses using S39-00001 will be required to adopt to meet updated food safety requirements. More information can be found in clause 1.4 of this Notice.

We proposed to amend the 'Template Food Control Plan – Simply Safe & Suitable (S39-00004)' in Schedule 2 of this Notice. We proposed that businesses using this plan would have until 1 February 2024 to adopt all the changes. While this transition is happening, there would be certain cards that businesses would be required to adopt to meet food safety requirements in the meantime. More information can be found in clause 1.4 of this Notice.

Food Notice: Requirements for Food Control Plans and National Programmes

We proposed to:

remove the expired transitional provision for National Programme operators
remove the expired information for operators transitioning to a food control plan that prepare or manufacture low-acid canned foods
update 'Part 2: Requirements for self-supply water at places used for food' to reflect the new water services requirements as set by Taumata Arowai
update on what constitutes a significant amendment to a food control plan.

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 the Ministry for Primary Industries makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.

Official Information Act 1982 – NZ Legislation

Proposed changes to the Simply Safe & Suitable template food control plan and relevant food notices

Closing date

Contact

Email

UPDATE – 18 May 2023