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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 8 Hansard (9 August) . . Page.. 2647 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

In July 2000, the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council, comprising health ministers from all jurisdictions, approved the incorporation of the food safety standards into the food standards code. For the territory, this incorporation did not allow for its enforcement because the current Food Act only adopts references to food within the food standards code, not food hygiene, safety or construction practices. Whilst the 1991 agreement brought Australia uniform compositional food standards through the adoption of the food standards code, it failed to deliver uniform framework legislation or food hygiene standards. As a result of the 2000 agreement, the bill that I have presented today does both of those things.

The Food Bill 2001 repeals the Food Act 1992 and the Meat Act 1931. It adopts much of the model food provisions and rectifies deficiencies which have been identified through the many years of operation of the current legislation. These deficiencies include: the way national food standards are adopted; the wording of certain offence provisions which has presented barriers to successful prosecution; difficulties associated with seizing foods which present a public health risk; and problems with legally sampling and analysing foods which originate as a result of a complaint.

At one time, the national food safety standards contained reference to mandatory food safety programs. However, in 1999, health ministers agreed that more work was required to assess the impact of food safety programs on small business prior to their approval. The research is still ongoing and, as such, reference to the adoption and administration of food safety programs within the model food provisions has been removed from the bill I have introduced today.

The ACT Health Protection Service has already begun assisting food businesses with preparing for the food safety standards. In February of this year the service introduced two important initiatives: the publication of a bimonthly newsletter, ACT Food Facts, which updates business on the implementation of the 2000 agreement in the ACT and provides information on the safe handling of food, a publication that I understand all MLAs receive; and the formation of the ACT Food Regulatory Advisory Group, which consists of senior health protection service staff and representatives from the majority of the ACT's food industry organisations. The ACT Food Regulatory Advisory Group was formed to deal with issues arising from the implementation of the national food reforms and to act as a forum for the discussion of issues of mutual importance.

Over the past 18 months, officials from the department have been working with other jurisdictions on a series of national projects designed to assist businesses with the implementation of the various reforms. The projects include: the development of written and visual training materials for charity and community groups, organisations not normally considered to be food businesses; a package to assist school canteens to introduce food safety standards; a training package to be used across Australia to teach primary-aged schoolchildren about the importance of food hygiene and food safety practices; and the translation of written material into a number of other languages to assist businesses with staff from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Following passage of the Food Bill 2001, the department intends to host a series of industry workshops designed to highlight specific issues within both the food safety standards and the new act. Environmental health officers who visit food businesses as part of their administration of the current Food Act also will be available to discuss

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