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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 11 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 3324 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

(b) the production of food, including the maximum and minimum amounts of additives that must or may be used in the preparation of the food;

(c) the packaging, storage and handling of food;

(d) any information about the food, including labelling, promotion and advertising;

(e) the interpretation of other standards; and

(f) any other public health matters, as prescribed.

So, under its Act, the Australia New Zealand Food Authority, in developing food standards or variations to standards, must take into account the following objectives, in descending priority order:

(a) the protection of public health and safety;

(b) the provision of adequate information relating to the food to enable consumers to make informed choices and prevent fraud and deception;

(c) the promotion of fair trading in food;

(d) the promotion of trade and commerce in the food industry;

(e) and the promotion of consistency between domestic and international food standards where there is a variance.

Mr Speaker, those responsibilities are there, and they are to be taken seriously by the Food Authority and, of course, checked by the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council, which is a meeting of Ministers from all jurisdictions in Australia and New Zealand, to get a consistent approach to food.

I would like to deal with irradiated food first, and then come to genetically modified food. Under the Food (Amendment) Bill 1998, it would be an offence for a person to sell food that has been subjected to a process or treatment involving irradiation unless a notice containing a statement to the effect that the food has been irradiated is displayed conspicuously at or near the point of sale.

The Commonwealth, States and Territories agreed to a moratorium on the manufacture, sale and importation of irradiated food in 1989. In 1992 all the jurisdictions agreed to the insertion of a codicil to the Uniform Food Agreement to ensure that a jurisdiction could not breach the moratorium. Currently there is not a food standard for irradiated food, and therefore it is currently illegal to either produce or sell irradiated food. The Australia New Zealand Food Authority, however, advises that it has produced a draft standard for irradiated food and is conducting further consultations with New Zealand prior to its circulation for public comment. The Food Authority also advises that the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council - that is, the meeting of Ministers - would probably consider this standard out of session later this year or in the not too distant future.

I would like now to move to genetically modified food. The Food Standards Council, at its meeting on 30 July 1998, agreed to an interim food standard to regulate the sale of food and food ingredients, other than additives and processing aids, which are produced by using gene technology. The new interim standard - food standard A18 - prohibits the sale of these foods unless they are included in the table that is within the standard.

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