Don't contaminate your plate this summer
New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) is relaunching its Chicken Scene Investigators campaign this summer in an effort to keep Kiwis healthy as they enjoy the festive season.
The New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) has started issuing annual reports, a new initiative to share information on consumer-level recalls with the public.
NZFS deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle says their priority is to protect consumers, and these reports help identify trends and find ways to prevent food safety incidents.
“New Zealand’s food safety system has a strong track record of keeping people safe and – given the volumes of food being produced, manufactured and imported – incidences of related illness remain rare.
“However, there are occasions when food safety issues occur, and that’s when we work quickly with food businesses to recall the affected product, removing it from the food supply chain and promoting public awareness.”
The 2023 report shows NZFS supported food businesses to conduct 70 consumer-level food recalls.
“It’s important to note that the number of recalls is not an accurate indicator of the level of risk to consumers. Numbers are dependent on many factors, including regulatory changes, business and public awareness of food-related problems, and reporting of those problems,” says Arbuckle.
Of the 70 recalls, 48 were initiated for domestically produced foods and 22 were for imported foods.
The report identifies Salmonella in imported sesame seed-based products as the most significant food safety event of 2023, resulting in 14 recalls affecting 65 food products.
Another food safety event to highlight from 2023 was the possible presence of Listeria and Campylobacter in raw milk, which led to three recalls.
“Drinking raw milk carries inherent risks as it may contain harmful bacteria that would normally be killed through the pasteurisation process,” notes Arbuckle.
“In this case, there were fortunately no associated reports of Listeriosis, which can be very serious for vulnerable people like the very young, pregnant, older and those with low immunity. But we were notified of three related cases of Campylobacter, which causes vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, fever, headache, and body aches.”
Allergens in food were the leading cause for recalls in 2023, with milk being the allergen that triggered the most recalls.
“Food recalls are a sign that our food safety system is working to protect consumers,” says Arbuckle.
By the numbers:
New Zealand’s major primary industry exporters have secured shipping capability to export $160 billion worth of products over the next 10 years.
The mood in the deer industry is very positive and on an upwards trajectory.
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says the Government is always working to ensure that our food exporters are treated fairly under trade agreements signed with other countries.
Coronet Peak, Queenstown, was the venue for the 2024 NZ Dairy Industry Awards.
AgriZeroNZ, the joint venture (JV) fast-tracking emissions reduction tools for Kiwi farmers, is looking to speed up delivery of a methane vaccine with a $10m investment in US ag-biotech start-up, ArkeaBio.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
OPINION: Good on the UK'S NFU for battling to get supermarkets to prioritise local farmers' produce.
OPINION: Seven of the UK's major supermarket chains have now responded to the call for them to back the nation's…