6 March 2007

Food safety should be aim of Food Safety Authority - Greens

The Green Party is welcoming news that the government is considering splitting the New Zealand Food Safety Authority from MAF and turning it into a stand-alone department, but says consumers and not just be vested interested must be consulted about its new mandate.

The State Services Commission is overseeing an investigation by an external contractor who will be working with Treasury, the Food Safety Authority and MAF, and will report its findings to Cabinet in May.

Green MP Sue Kedgley says the present Food Safety Authority is a timid, ineffective agency which won't stick its neck out over any food safety issue.
"Its knee-jerk response to any food safety issue is to downplay and deny any risk and seek to pacify consumers. It appears to believe its main purpose is to protect our food producers and exporters, not New Zealand consumers. As a result, consumers cannot trust the agency to put their health and safety first.

"This agency led the battle to deny consumers their right to know where their food comes from, and has failed to adequately monitor important food safety issues from GE food to illegal pesticide residues in food.

"The agency appears to be hopelessly compromised by a dual mandate to protect our overseas exports, on the one hand, and domestic consumers on the other, as well as its location within MAF. And this has undermined consumer confidence in food safety in New Zealand," Ms Kedgley says.

"The only way to restore consumer confidence is to set up a genuinely independent, impartial agency whose sole mission is to protect consumers and public health, and ensure consumers have enough information to make informed choices when purchasing food.

"The Green Party has argued for this from the outset, and put up amendments in the House when the legislation setting up the agency was introduced. While we are pleased that the government has admitted it got it wrong, and is reviewing the agency's mandate, we are anxious that consumers, and not just Treasury, MAF and the NZFSA, are consulted about its new mandate and terms of reference.

"Unless it's a genuinely independent, stand along agency with an exclusive remit to protect the New Zealand, it will fail just as the present NZFSA has failed," Ms Kedgley predicts.

ENDS

© Scoop Media