Scope of Activities
The authority is Australia’s first completely integrated or 'through-chain' state food regulation agency, responsible for food safety and food labelling across the food industry, from point of harvest or manufacture through processing, transport, storage and wholesale to point-of-sale and, arguably, point of consumption (see Remit, below). Both policy and enforcement activities are evidence-led.
Before the authority was established, responsibility for food regulation in NSW was divided across a number of state agencies, some with scope limited to specific food sectors such as meat, dairy or seafood or to vertical parts of the food chain such as retail outlets. Various degrees of segmentation remain in other Australian State and territory jurisdictions. Evolution in the food, transport and trade industries was creating greater complexity in market structures, business reach and government regulation. The establishment of the authority was designed to create a more streamlined, consistent and efficient approach to food regulation in NSW and a single point of contact for both the food industry and public.
Some overlap of government agency remits regulating the sale of food remain, however, with the NSW Office of Fair Trading (OFT) empowered to enforce the Trade Measurement Act 1989 (NSW) and Fair Trading Act 1987 (NSW) and, at the federal level, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission enforcing the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cwlth). Furthermore, local government is also empowered to enforce food standards under the Food Act, mostly at the level of retail food outlets. The authority works with local councils to minimise overlap and duplication at the retail level and enhance consistency of enforcement activities and skills across the state. In July 2008, amendments to the Food Act formalised and mandated the (previously optional) food safety enforcement functions of local government. The amendments enabled the authority to appoint, after consultation, each local council to one of three predefined categories setting out each's food safety enforcement powers and responsibilities.
Read more about this topic: New South Wales Food Authority
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