Risk categorised food is food that has the potential to pose a high risk to public health. At the point of entry, the Australian Customs Service (ACS) refers 100 percent of risk categorised foods, electronically, to AQIS for inspection status.
A performance-based approach applies. Food products from foreign producers with a consistent history of compliance are inspected less frequently than products from new suppliers or those with a history of failure against Australian standards. The three inspection rates are defined in the Imported Food Control Regulations, and any failure results in immediate intensification of the inspection regime. Risk categorised food remains subject to AQIS control pending the analytical results. The performance-based inspection levels are as follows:
The first five shipments of a particular food first arriving from a particular producer are inspected; after five consecutively cleared shipments, inspection intensity drops to the next level;
One in four shipments is then inspected (the other three are automatically released); after 20 cleared inspections and, if importation follows a steady pattern, inspection intensity drops to the next level;
One in 20 shipments is then inspected (the other 19 are automatically released).
