Dar seafood ppp standard

3.3 Imported seafood - regulatory requirements for food safety

Imported foods must meet the same standards as domestic foods.

At the border, the safety of imported seafood is regulated under the Imported Food Control Act 1992 administered by AQIS. FSANZ and AQIS have joint responsibility for regulating the safety of imported food, with their roles defined by a memorandum of understanding. FSANZ is responsible for conducting risk assessment of imported food, and AQIS provides operational services at the border, including inspections, verifications and tests in line with FSANZ’s advice and to ensure that imported foods comply with the Code.
Imported seafood that is currently classified as ‘Risk’ food and therefore subjected to 100 per cent inspection levels, consists of the following:

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  crustaceans, cooked and chilled or cooked and frozen. Includes cooked peeled prawns but excludes canned product that is commercially heat treated;
  
  
  
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  fish (whole, filleted, further processed or dried), all shark (including Dogfish), Rexea solandri (Gemfish) and tuna;
  
  
  
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  smoked vacuum packed fish and smoke flavoured vacuum packed fish;
  
  
  
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  marinara mix - chilled or frozen, whether blanched or not. Excludes canned product that is commercially heat treated; and
  
  
  
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  molluscs ready for consumption, whether chilled or frozen. Includes all bivalve molluscs such as mussels, clams, cockles and scallops. Excludes canned product that is commercially heat treated.
  

All other imported seafood products are included in the random surveillance category and inspected at a rate of 5 per cent. For further details on the current tests applied to imported seafood refer to Attachment 9.

FSANZ and AQIS are undertaking a review of the random and active surveillance categories. This review is considering existing limits in the Code, the risks to public health and safety and imported food data. The new imported food surveillance system is intended to reward those importers with a good history of compliance, and to allow greater flexibility in relation to inspection frequencies.
The involvement of domestic surveillance agencies in the review of imported food surveillance will result in a more inclusive consideration of issues and allow a greater integration of surveillance functions. It will also ensure that a broader range of information sources is considered when developing surveillance priorities.
The review of the imported foods random and active surveillance categories has been substantially progressed by FSANZ. In the next few months, proposals on inspection rates for classes of foods will be presented to State and Territories and industry for their comment. It is expected that implementation of the new, more flexible system will be in a phased approach with different rates of inspection being applied to some food categories by the end of 2004.
Importers can avail themselves of two mechanisms to reduce the level of inspection and testing at the border. These include (a) recognition of quality assurance arrangements and (b) certification provided by overseas governments (see below).

1.