Gary Bielby
Assistant Director, Food Services
Kerry Bell
Principal Adviser, Foods
Public Health Services
QLD Health
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Preferred option
Supports option 3. Prefers the wording on page 8 of the proposal as opposed to the wording on page 35.
Spat
Believes that the mandatory requirements of a food safety program for bivalve molluscs should include spat with the exclusion of those bivalves where only the adductor muscle is consumed (eg roe-off scallops). The exclusion of spat from the definition is a food safety concern for QLD since the bulk of the industry in SE QLD relies on the relaying of spat from NSW. Currently, those ‘not for sale as food’ spat are transhipped to Qld and are required to have a minimum of 60 day depuration or equivalent on-growing period, prior to harvest and sale. As the shipped spat are not technically for human consumption, their movements are regulated by NSW Fisheries which has no jurisdiction in food safety matters. This anomaly results in a loophole of traceability whereby it has been impossible to adequately reconcile the movements of all spat across the border with the quantity of spat that is placed out on oyster leases. It is also known that product marked as spat has been processed in SE QLD as bistro and bottled small oysters.
Wild oysters
Believes that the requirement of a biotoxin monitoring program and classification of areas of ‘wild’ oyster harvesting areas will be too onerous and uneconomical for North Qld oyster harvesters. As there has not been a proven record of serious food-borne illness associated with the northern industry, and as the harvest area is normally in isolated, more pristine areas, argues that the risk is reduced compared to the much larger southern aquaculture oyster industry that resides closer to large human population and recreational use areas.
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