Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for your question. If you import food, you're legally responsible to import food that's safe to eat. The Imported Food Control Act, together with state and territory legislation, is the government framework that provides assurance to Australians that food sold here is safe, suitable for consumption and compliant with Australian food standards.

Among its many important responsibilities, FSANZ provides the agreed advice on the levels of human health and safety risks posed by some foods. Medium- to high-risk foods are those that may contain harmful natural toxins or pathogenic microorganisms that could lead to food poisoning, if not handled or cooked properly before consumption—for example, your steak tartare, your fresh oysters, your uncooked sprouts or your soft cheeses.

FSANZ provides the important food safety standards that states and territories use to regulate the domestic sale and service of food in Australia. However, it is the Department of Agriculture that's responsible for regulating food imports. All imported foods must firstly comply with Australia's biosecurity imports conditions. For example, we do not accept meat products from countries that we know have African swine fever. While not a food safety concern to humans, an outbreak of ASF would devastate our pork industry. Once my department is assured that biosecurity risks are managed, it uses the FSANZ standards and advice to classify foods for particular inspection regimes under the Imported Foods Inspection Scheme. Recent legislative changes are improving the operation of the scheme, and these include increasing importers' accountability for food safety, improving monitoring and management of new and emerging food safety risks and improving incident responses. The changes help ensure that the scheme can respond to potential risks associated with the growing complexity of globalised food supply chains and increasing consumer demand for imported food.