FSANZ promises to speed up food approvals
will see a faster response to applications for new food ingredients
and products from next year, the authorities say.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has been given A$1.9 million (€1.13m) by the Australian government to support an overhaul of the food standards code that regulates the industry.
Applications made by companies seeking changes to the code will be processed more rapidly, FSANZ promised, providing a major boost to innovation.
The typical timeframe for a change to the food code is one year but this will be reduced to nine months for major changes such as a significant revision of a food standard and just three months for minor changes like small alterations to language, a FSANZ spokesman told AP-Foodtechnology.com.
"We want to get away from the 'one-size-fits-all' procedure to a more flexible system," said Dr Michael Dack.
The application process will be speeded up by creating a detailed set of guidelines to instruct food companies on what is required by the regulators to make changes. If an application does not have each required element, it will be rejected.
This system is expected to be less time-consuming than the current procedure under which the application is halted until a company submits the correct information, and then restarted again. This can delay the process for two years or more.
"If we don't keep having to ask for more information from a company, it will be speeded up. The onus is on us to make clearer guidelines," added Dr Dack.
Also, while there are usually two periods of consultation for each application under the current system, "the default position will probably change to one", he said.
FSANZ will spend the new funding mainly on more senior people who will prepare detailed guidelines on the new procedures for food companies. There will also be some money spent on the website and IT system, as well as travel to consult with stakeholders and government bodies on the new approvals process.
"We will spend a large chunk on explaining to industry how to follow the new procedure. We're going to provide guidelines that set out step-by-step what we need," said Dr Dack.
"We're already gearing up so that when the money is available (on 1 July) we can release senior people. We want all the guidelines to be in place in early 2007," he said.
The changes follow a review of the FSANZ processes by the food regulations standing committee last year. Industry had indicated that it is not satisfied with the speed at which the regulatory body was processing applications.
The new procedure is likely to come into effect from the start of 2007. "This is an important change, as delays in changing food standards have been holding up industry innovation," said Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing, Christopher Pyne, in a statement.
