Date of effect: 11 July 2022
Attention
Importers of berries and pomegranate arils, and brokers acting on their behalf.
Purpose
To provide importers with further information about the changes to import requirements for ready-to-eat fresh and frozen berries and pomegranate arils.
See IFN 06-21 – changes to the inspection of some imported food.
Key points
- From 9 November 2022, consignments of ready-to-eat berries and pomegranate arils that are either fresh, chilled or frozen, that are not retorted, must be covered by a food safety management certificate. This requirement does not apply to dried berries.
- To meet our requirements, you must have either a third-party food safety management certificate or a recognised foreign government certificate. We will verify and maintain a record of valid food safety management certificates which we will refer to when assessing import documents for consignments of ready-to-eat berries and pomegranate arils that are fresh, chilled, or frozen. This will ensure a smooth implementation of the new requirement.
Instructions
- Provide us with your food safety management certificates for verification (if you have not already done so):
- Submit the current and relevant food safety management certificates that you intend to lodge with future consignments, to ifis-certification@aff.gov.au.
- Enter ‘FSMC - <<insert producer name>>
’ in the email subject field.
- The certificate is not consignment specific; however, it must be valid at the time the consignment is exported. The certificate must contain, as a minimum:
- the name and address of the certified business
- the standard against which the business is certified
- a relevant scope statement
- a description of the food covered by the certificate
- the certificate number
- certificate issue date, expiry date and audit date
- name, position, and signature of person authorising the certificate
- name, address, and logo of the certification body
- logo of the accreditation body.
- Ensure the certificate held by the department is current and provide a new certificate at least 4 weeks before the expiry date.
- Learn more about food safety management certificates.
Background
Under section 18A of the Imported Food Control Act 1992, a food safety management certificate may be required for certain food for importation. The certificate is evidence that a food has been produced through a food safety management system. This system must have appropriate controls in place to manage food safety hazards of concern.
Subscribe for updates
Stay updated on changes to the requirements for imported food. Subscribe to the Imported Food Inspection Scheme imported food notices.