Explanatory Statement
1. Authority
Section 13 of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 (the FSANZ Act) provides that the functions of Food Standards Australia New Zealand (the Authority) include the development of standards and variations of standards for inclusion in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code).
Division 2 of Part 3 of the FSANZ Act specifies that the Authority may prepare a proposal for the development or variation of food regulatory measures, including standards. This Division also stipulates the procedure for considering a proposal for the development or variation of food regulatory measures.
The Authority prepared Proposal P1027 to manage the presence in food commodities of low level inadvertent agvet chemical residues without MRLs in the Code. The Authority considered the Proposal in accordance with Division 2 of Part 3 and has approved a draft variation of a Standard.
Following consideration by the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation, section 92 of the FSANZ Act stipulates that the Authority must publish a notice about the draft variation of a standard.
Section 94 of the FSANZ Act specifies that a variation of a standard in relation to which a notice is published under section 92 is a legislative instrument, but is not subject to parliamentary disallowance or sunsetting under the Legislation Act 2003.
2. Purpose
The Authority has approved amendments to Schedule 20, which relate to allowing All other foods except animal food commodities MRLs for the legitimate presence of low level inadvertent residues of certain agvet chemicals, assessed as safe, in the food.
The amended provisions in Schedule 20 are section S20—2 and the table to section S20—3.
Section S20—2, which is an interpretation provision, was amended to include an explanation of what ‘animal food commodities’ mean.
The table to section S20—3 was amended to include a new food category ‘All other foods except animal food commodities’ and associated MRLs for 19 chemicals. The table lists the MRLs for residues of agvet chemicals which may occur in or on food commodities following their legitimate use in food production. If there is no MRL for a particular agvet chemical and food combination in the Code, a ‘zero tolerance’ approach is applied and means there must be no detectable residue of the chemical in the food. Prior to the commencement of the draft variation, any food commodity to which the zero tolerance approach was applied would have been in breach of the Code and may not have been sold.
The approved draft variation permits the sale of certain food commodities with detectable low level inadvertent agvet chemical residues. It is a technical amendment to address the unintended contamination of the food commodities through spray drift, crop rotation or use of packaging equipment.
The approach used a scientific risk assessment process including dietary exposure to ensure the values established for this MRL category do not present any public health and safety concerns.
3. Documents incorporated by reference
The variations to food regulatory measures do not incorporate any documents by reference.
4. Consultation
The Authority’s consideration of P1027 included two rounds of public consultation.
The first public consultation was undertaken on 16 December 2014 following assessment of the proposal. This was a non-statutory public consultation.
The second public consultation was undertaken in accordance with the procedure set out in Division 2 of Part 3 of the FSANZ Act, in which submissions were called for on 22 April 2016 for a six-week consultation period.
A Regulation Impact Statement was not required because the proposed amendments to Schedule 20 are likely to have a minor impact on business and individuals (OBPR ID 12065).
5. Statement of compatibility with human rights
This instrument is exempt from the requirements for a statement of compatibility with human rights as it is a non-disallowable instrument under section 94 of the FSANZ Act.
6. Variation
Sub item [1.1] amends section S20—2 by inserting an explanation of what ‘animal food commodities’ means.
Item [1.2] amends section S20—3 by inserting a new food category ‘All other foods except animal food commodities’ and associated MRLs for the following 19 chemicals:
- Ametoctradin
- Azoxystrobin
- Bifenthrin
- Captan
- Cyfluthrin
- Deltamethrin
- Fenhexamid
- Fludioxonil
- Glyphosate
- Iprodione
- Methomyl
- Penthiopyrad
- 2-Phenylphenol
- Pyrimethanil
- Spinosad
- Thiabendazole
- Thiodicarb
- Triadimefon
- Triadimenol.