99.4% of imported food complies with Aust regulations

The vast majority of food imported into Australia complies with our regulations, according to the July-December 2013 Imported Food Inspection Data Report. More than 270 tests a day have been conducted on imported food, with a high compliance rate of 99.4%, excluding labelling mistakes.

“The imported food scheme demonstrates our biosecurity system in action - making sure imported food is safe to eat and meets our own domestic standards,” said Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce.

“My department has a thorough process for checking imported food, and using a scientific risk model to focus efforts on food products that pose the greatest human health risk.

“Many biosecurity risks are not generally visible and require specialised skills and scientific know-how to manage. Good biosecurity is essential to maintaining our human health, agricultural productivity, environment and our ability to grow our agricultural exports.”

The Department of Agriculture works with Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and state and territory authorities to monitor and test imported food.

“It’s important to note that most of the non-compliant foods were due to labelling errors which may be corrected prior to sale. Where food does not comply with requirements, it is destroyed, treated to bring it back to compliance or re-exported. There are also follow-up actions with the food manufacturer,” Minister Joyce said.

The report is available from www.daff.gov.au/biosecurity/import/food/inspection-data.