NZ Food Safety Boss on Balancing Speed and Risk in Approvals
Striking a balance between meeting the needs of industry to speed up approval time for products but on the other hand ensuring that risks are properly assessed.
Labour’s rural issues spokesman Damien O’Connor told Dairy News that such matters require technical expertise and are a crucial area of government.
It’s a worry, he says, alluding to many stories he has heard of delays, confusion and uncertainty in the food safety area that shouldn’t occur in a country so dependent on this. He reiterated his call to pull food safety and biosecurity out of the ‘conglomerate’ of MPI. He says each of these two groups needs to focus solely on its specific tasks.
O’Connor says he’s concerned at way the Government handled the release of the 1080 threat.
“The national launch about the threat was overplayed, the fact that it didn’t continue was great,” he said.
“It was over-hyped from the first press conference. What politicians including the Prime Minister have done is unhelpful. The timing of the disclosure will be exposed in the review of this matter, as will the confusion over how and when exporters should have been notified….
“Some exporters have had product certified by MPI on the water yet MPI knew full well it could be affected by requirements for further testing and that has annoyed a number of exporters.”
