2. Development of a Primary Production and Processing Standard for Seafood (Proposal P265)
Proposal 265 (P265) ‘Development of a Primary Production and Processing Standard for Seafood’ was raised by FSANZ in December 2002 under its mandate to develop domestic standards for the primary production and processing of food.
The seafood sector includes a number of products and activities that, unless well managed, may potentially have serious impacts on public health and safety. Recently, some State governments have developed seafood safety schemes to ensure that a ‘boat to plate’ (i.e. paddock to plate) approach to seafood safety was implemented across the seafood supply chain. However, other jurisdictions are not yet at that point, leaving the primary production end of the domestic seafood chain without mandated seafood safety schemes.
The seafood sector was also increasingly aware that food safety issues are vital to the continued growth of the industry, and was at an advanced stage of developing a national voluntary seafood safety standard. The industry has also produced a number of guidance documents on food safety across a range of sectors. It was therefore considered an opportune time to move these developments forward to a nationally mandated system.
As required by the Ministerial guidelines, a Standards Development Committee (SDC) was appointed in September 2002 by the FSANZ Board to provide advice to FSANZ on matters relevant to the standard development process. The SDC contributes a broad spectrum of knowledge and expertise covering industry, government, research and consumers.
In December 2002, the Board prepared a Proposal pursuant to section 12AA of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 for the development of a Primary Production and Processing Standard for seafood.
The Board approved the Initial Assessment Report (Issues Paper) for release, agreed to seek public submissions, and directed the SDC to consider any available standards, including those developed by Seafood Services Australia Ltd, and the New South Wales and New Zealand Governments during its discussions and provision of advice on development of the mandatory national standard for seafood.
Since that time FSANZ, with advice from the SDC, has:
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considered the written submissions received in response to the public consultation on the Initial Assessment report and the Draft Assessment Report;
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undertaken an evaluation of public health risks and identified sectors of the seafood industry that pose a potential high risk to safety;
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considered current strategies to manage those risks and determined, what if any, residual risks need to be managed;
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considered options for the management of these residual risks that aim to ensure the safety of seafood;
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conducted an impact analysis of the options to identify the option that meets the minimum effective regulation requirements , but effectively addresses any public health and safety risks associated with seafood;
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recommended a preferred option;
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considered the implementation of the preferred option; and
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drafted a proposed standard consistent with the preferred option.
This Report forms the third stage in the process of developing a Primary Production and Processing Standard for seafood. It takes into account the matters raised above and other deliberations of the Seafood SDC.
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