Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has been asked by ministers responsible for food regulation to look at the best way to manage food safety risks relating to berries, leafy vegetables and melons.

As a result, FSANZ has prepared Proposal P1052 ‘Primary Production and Processing Requirements for Horticulture (Berries, Leafy Vegetables and Melons). This includes looking at potential regulatory and non-regulatory approaches.

To help inform the assessment of P1052, FSANZ has prepared a short survey.

The survey seeks general information from relevant stakeholders (berry, leafy vegetable and melon producers and processors) about food safety culture and the impacts of COVID-19 on their business.

The survey is open until Sunday 31 January 2021 and will take about 20 minutes to complete via this FSANZ P1052 webpage.

Background:

In February 2020 FSANZ released a first Call for Submissions Report which provided a summary of the preliminary assessment. It sought stakeholder views on developing new regulatory measures for berries, leafy vegetables and melons.

The next milestone for P1052 is the release of the second Call for Submissions Report inviting public comment on the outcomes of the risk assessment, the cost-benefit analysis work and the proposed risk management options.

The second Call for Submissions Report is expected to be released in February 2021. Prior to its release, FSANZ has published a survey which seeks information from relevant stakeholders about food safety culture and about the impacts of COVID-19 on their business to help to inform the assessment of this proposal.

The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete and can be found on the FSANZ P1052 web page. The closing date for responses to the survey is Sunday 31 January 2021.

If you have any questions about the survey or proposal P1052 you can contact FSANZ at foodsafetyresponse@foodstandards.gov.au.