First of July Is-a-coming!

The first of July 2018 is going to go down as a memorable day for food safety in Australia, as there are so many changes coming in that it is certainly a busy time.

The new Country of Origin Labelling  (CoOL) will be a legal requirement as of that date, which is going to have an impact on every manufacturer of packaged foods in this country.

In New South Wales local councils will then be required to monitor and regulate “home based businesses”. So all those food businesses running from domestic kitchen will now need to meet the relevant requirements of the Food Standards Code and councils will be checking on that compliance. Those businesses selling food directly to the public will also have to notify the councils of what they are doing.

The home based businesses selling food to other busineses will still be regulated by the New South Wales Food Authority.

A Fact Sheet about these requirements can be downloaded at;  www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/_Documents/retailfactsheets/home_ based_food_businesses.pdf

The need to include Lupin in allergen labelling is now in operation and the big changes in plastic bag usage in the supermarkets and the related plastic packaging changes for them coming in as well, we are in for a busy time for a little while.