Member Matters
AFGC at the Food Incident Forum
16 September 2024
Rapidly rising prices and reduced availability of some commodities such as cocoa, orange juice concentrate and olive oil increase the risk for food adulteration and fraud. This is timely reminder for AFGC members to continually review and strengthen food defence plans (e.g. threat and vulnerability assessments) to safeguard products and uphold consumer trust.
The AFGC participated in the Food Incident Forum jointly hosted by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and the NSW Food Authority in Sydney on 12 September. The Forum was attended by government, industry, peak body and retailer stakeholders to facilitate the process and knowledge sharing of communication during food incidents.
Dr Duncan Craig, Director of Nutrition and Regulation, AFGC provided an industry “situation update” highlighting ongoing challenges due to:
- continued global supply chain disruptions
- soaring business costs including transport, energy and inputs
- commodity price shocks and shortages
- adverse weather conditions disrupting supply and transport
- cost of living impacts
- domestic and international biosecurity threats (e.g. recent high pathogenicity avian influenza outbreak in VIC, NSW and the ACT)
- regulatory pressures related to labelling and packaging standards.
Dr Craig emphasised the importance of trust and sharing information to work collaboratively with state as well as federal government departments.
Other topics covered during the day included procedures for industry liaison, cost of living impacts and links to increasing theft and tampering, international horizon scanning, case studies on responding to Listeria outbreaks and the recent recall of mushroom gummies, and examples of conducting risk assessments for food safety and allergen management.
