More than 41,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Bill to be dropped, and Green MPs Steffan Browning and Mojo Mathers, are calling for reopening of submissions on the Bill.
They want Food Safety Minister, Kate Wilkinson to exempt small growers, people who sell food directly to consumers, and those who barter or swap food, from some of the more onerous food regulations in the Bill.
Public awareness and concern about the Bill had grown since the first round of submissions and many people had expressed interest in submitting their views on the Bill, said Mr Browning.
Amendments to the Food Bill could improve it significantly, ensuring New Zealand food sovereignty, confidence for growers and producers alike, and encouraging food production at the local level.
Amendments should put the compliance costs where they belonged – on the large agribusiness and food processors that manifest the greater food safety risks, he said.
Select Committee Readings
The Food Bill is intended to replace the Food Act 1981, and is due to be debated in Parliament in later this year. Parliament’s Primary Production Select Committee completed its report on the Bill last year with recommendations for the House to consider. The Bill will have its second reading and then go through another Select Committee round before the third reading.
The Bill aims to “provide an efficient, effective and risk-based food regulatory regime that manages food safety and suitability issues, improves business certainty and minimises compliance costs for business”, according to the Government’s website on the issue.
Instead, growers and home gardeners say the Food Bill discourages rather than encourages small growers and local food production initiatives.
Uncertainty and Improved Wording
The Green Party is calling for safe, healthy and affordable food and intends to get uncertainty in the Bill removed to give confidence to small growers and artisan processors, so that they are not obstructed unnecessarily, says Green MP, Steffan Browning.
Among the measures that need to be looked at by officials are improved wording around bartering, the use of force by food officials, wording around international agreements such as the TPPA and Codex, genetic modification, charitable organisations and community groups, he said.
In recent discussions with the Food Safety Ministry he asked for more information around the Bill's intention and proposed extending exemptions to a wider level of small grower and processor activity.
There was also the possibility that home gardeners could be subject to later regulatory imposition, said Mr Browning. The Bill included a wide range of regulatory powers for the Minister.
Small-scale Growers Need Exemption
The home garden or kitchen for domestic purposes appeared not to be included in the Bill's schedules and so could not be subject to ministerial or MAF regulatory food safety measures. This needs to be confirmed, said Mr Browning.
Last year, former Green MP, Sue Kedgley called for small-scale growers who sell directly to consumers (such as in Farmers’ Markets), and for those who barter or swap food, to be exempted from the Bill. Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson has now said that seed saving and plant propagation will not be included in the Food Bill, following amendments that will be made during the Parliamentary process.
Possibly the worst part of the Food Bill is the huge amount of power intended for the Minister to chop and change practically any aspect of the food rules, said Mr Browning. As the legislation stands, the Minister would be able to add, remove or amend regulations at will and without consultation.
Sweeping Powers and Amendments
The Food Bill was supposedly intended to reduce compliance costs for the food industry, while reducing the incidence of food borne illness, but it has such sweeping powers that the Bill’s best intentions could be lost under bureaucratic pressure, he said.
As now drafted, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) and the Food Safety Minister will have significant power to make amendments by way of regulation once the Food Bill is enacted.
Activities such as swapping home garden produce with neighbours and friends, and direct sales from horticultural producers to consumers, are meant to be exempt from the need for food safety plans, under the proposed legislation.
But the Minister is empowered by the proposed Food Bill to later make changes to regulations, including the exemption to swap food. It is difficult to find anything relating to food that the Minister would not be able to change, said Mr Browning.
Exemptions to preserve New Zealand’s culture of gardening, food preserving and community sharing must be drafted in such a way that any significant future changes must go through the full Parliamentary process, he said.
“New Zealanders should be given every encouragement to feed themselves and their communities, not be constrained unnecessarily.”
As it stands (except for direct grower to consumer sales of horticultural produce), most operators would need to apply to the discretion of the Minister through MAF or a delegated local council, said Mr Browning. Food safety and verification costs would affect smaller growers and even exemption applications would be costly.
Food Safety Research Needed
He said food borne illnesses needed better research to identify causes more accurately, and food handlers needed good education and penalties to deter poor practice.
“.. but this need not be at the expense of local, diverse food production. Small growers and processors need to be encouraged to rebuild the culture of local artisan food production, building food security and local skills”, he said.
Genetic modification, international joint food standards, free trade agreements and New Zealand food sovereignty, food safety officers’ enforcement powers, their immunity from prosecution, and the powers of the Minister, were all issues that needed revisiting in the draft of the Food Bill, said Mr Browning.
References
Food Bill FAQ (Ministry of Food Safety)
Frog Blog: The Food Bill, not as sweet as first appeared
