02.Our food regulation system
The main bodies responsible for establishing food policy and regulation in Australia are Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), the Food Regulation Secretariat and the Australian New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council (Ministerial Council). It is the responsibility of the State and Territory authorities to enforce food regulation.
FSANZ administers the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, developing and amending the standards that govern how food is produced, manufactured and labelled. The Food Regulation Secretariat develops food policy that guides FSANZ in the development or amendment of food standards. The Ministerial Council is made up of health ministers and primary industry or agriculture ministers from the Commonwealth government, New Zealand government and all State and Territory governments. It gives final approval to new and amended food standards and policies.
FSANZ must also have regard to issues affecting the food industry such as fair-trading, consistent regulation and international competition. Unfortunately, CHOICE believes that some developments in food regulation place the interests of the food industry above the interests of consumers.