FSANZ Corporate Plan

2009-12

A safe food supply which supports the health of people in Australia and New Zealand

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) will contribute to a safe food supply in Australia and New Zealand

by managing the development and maintenance of effective evidence-based food standards.

AustraliaTel: +61 2 6271 2241 Fax: +61 2 6271 2278

55 Blackall Street Barton ACT 2600

PO Box 7186 Canberra BC ACT 2610 Australia

info@foodstandards.gov.au www.foodstandards.gov.au

New ZealandTel: +64 4 473 9942 Fax: +64 4 473 9855

Level 6 108 The Terrace, Wellington 6036

PO Box 10559 The Terrace, Wellington 6036 New Zealand

info@foodstandards.govt.nz www.foodstandards.govt.nz

1. Message from the Chair

This edition of FSANZ’s Corporate Plan spans the years 2009-2012, a period in which global economies, including Australia and New Zealand, are expected to be emerging from the most significant economic downturn in many decades. The challenge facing FSANZ is to provide Australian and New Zealand consumers with a high level of protection from unsafe or unsuitable food by developing appropriate food standards during difficult financial times.

Through the Corporate Plan, the FSANZ Board sets the culture and directions for the agency. Board members — drawn from consumer organisations, public health interests, and the primary production and food processing sectors — have extensive experience of private and public sector organisations and have a duty of care to ensure that FSANZ acts within its legislative remit and to allocate its resources wisely. The Board is also committed to excellence and quality in everything that FSANZ does.

One of the aims of the FSANZ planning process is to meet our stakeholders’ expectations better. Consumers expect government to guarantee the safety of the food supply and ensure adequate information is provided to them when buying food. Food businesses expect government to minimise the costs of any regulation and not impose any unnecessary hurdles that inhibit innovation. Public health groups expect government to use the food supply to address wider population health issues.

These and other expectations present challenges not only for FSANZ, but for the food regulatory system as a whole, including the policy-making and enforcement elements.

The FSANZ planning process is designed to identify current and emerging priority issues, address agency risk areas and determine appropriate strategies to ensure we meet our statutory obligations and, wherever possible, the expectations of stakeholders. For example, how can FSANZ maintain its breadth and depth of scientific and other expertise? How can we best maintain effective international collaboration with dwindling resources? What additional steps need to be taken to identify and respond to emerging issues? How can we address gaps in data and information and proactively facilitate research in important areas?

Questions such as these lie behind the Strategic Imperatives in this Corporate Plan. Other corporate strategies will flow from the plan, and the intention is that all FSANZ staff will be able to link their own performance measures to the plan’s Strategic Imperatives.

Our Vision is ‘a safe food supply which supports the health of people in Australia and New Zealand’. FSANZ’s role in the food regulatory system is critical to the maintenance of public health and safety.

I am confident that, despite difficult financial times ahead, we will be smart enough to continue to produce high quality standards in a timely way and meet most stakeholder expectations most of the time. The Corporate Plan 2009-2012 provides the foundations of this process.

PHILIPPA SMITH AM

Chair

Food Standards Australia New Zealand

3. FSANZ Vision, Mission and Values

VisionA safe food supply which supports the health of people in Australia and New Zealand.

MissionTo develop effective food standards in collaboration with Australian and New Zealand governments.

We will do this by:

• developing, varying and reviewing food standards and codes of practice;

• publishing the Food Standards Code and interpretive guidelines and providing information on the Code;

• promoting consistency between standards in Australia and New Zealand and those used internationally;

• facilitating harmonisation of state and territory laws relating to food and assisting jurisdictions with the consistent implementation of food standards;

• contributing to monitoring, surveillance and enforcement in relation to food in Australia;

• conducting research and surveys relevant to food standards;

• developing food education initiatives and publishing information to assist the public;

• coordinating national food incident responses;

• coordinating the recall of foods in Australia;

• undertaking risk assessments of imported food;

• providing technical advice on food to Ministers;

• participating in international, regional and bilateral negotiations on standards;

• providing leadership in the area of food standards-setting;

• providing information and research which helps promote informed debate on food standards and food policy;

• fostering national and international networks of specialists who help critique the testing and evaluation of food safety and consumer behaviour; and

• maintaining current data bases relevant to FSANZ work.

Values• Striving for professionalism and excellence in whatever we do;

• Collaborating effectively to achieve results;

• Being inclusive in how we work;

• Being transparent in our decision making and processes;

• Being proactive and responsive in identifying and questioning of issues raised;

• Demonstrating innovation and creativity as well as consistency in the work we do; and

• Showing leadership of the highest standard.

4. FSANZ Strategy Map 2009-12

The FSANZ Strategy Map outlines the key components of our strategic approach for 2009-12 and includes the following structure:

• Strategic Imperatives

• Objectives, including strategies

• Outcomes, including performance measures

A safe food supply which supports the health of people in Australia and New Zealand

Develop and sustain effective food standards in collaboration with

Australian and New Zealand Governments

Regulatory

Standards

Enhancing the quality of regulatory standards

• Clear, easy to understand standards

• Standards soundly based on evidence

• Standards that anticipate innovation and new technologies

• Ready acceptance of standards by jurisdictions and industry

• Easier implementation by jurisdictions and industry

• Standards that are useful to consumers (understandable and beneficial)

• Professional and constructive relationships with all stakeholders

• A strong sense of engagement with FSANZ amongst stakeholders

• A positive culture in FSANZ where staff feel motivated in their work, are valued and respected

• Total compliance with legislative and reporting requirements

• Government confidence in FSANZ’s ability to manage its work and resources

• Shared understanding of FSANZ’s role

• FSANZ reputation for being proactive and alert

• Credibility and trust in FSANZ

• Increased efficiency of our organisational processes

• An enhanced reputation for being a safe, professionally rewarding and productive workplace

• Maintain a culture of excellent governance

• Ensuring appropriate systems are in place and checked regularly

Stakeholder

Relationships

Building stronger stakeholder relationships

People & Organisational

Capability

Continuing to strengthen the capability and capacity of FSANZ

Accountability

Complying with relevant governance and accountability requirements

Consistency in our work through transparency, proactive and inclusive relationships with everyone we engage with.

A complete version of FSANZ Corporate Plan 2009-12 is available on our Website at www.foodstandards.gov.au

2. FSANZ Operating Environment

The food regulatory system in Australia and New Zealand underpins the food supply chain and is a cooperative arrangement between the governments of Australia, New Zealand and the Australian States and Territories. These governments, under the auspices of the Australian and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council, establish the policy framework for food regulation.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) develops and reviews food standards under this policy framework. Implementation of these standards is then given effect through food legislation administered by each of the Australian State and Territory governments and the New Zealand Government.

In conducting its business, FSANZ must comply with the provisions of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 and with the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997. The latter describes FSANZ’s fiduciary and reporting responsibilities.

Under the FSANZ Act, the primary objectives of FSANZ are to protect public health and safety, enable informed choices by consumers and prevent misleading and deceptive conduct. In its decision making, FSANZ must also have regard to growth and innovation in the food industry.

The Australian and New Zealand Governments both have a strong focus on reducing the regulatory burden on industry. All new food standards are required to undergo a regulatory impact analysis to assess their likely costs and benefits. Accordingly, a challenge for FSANZ over the next three years will be to develop food standards and other measures that adhere to the principle of ‘minimum effective regulation’, whilst maintaining an appropriate level of protection for the community.

FSANZ can also expect to make a stronger contribution to the work carried out by jurisdictions to implement food standards to address issues around inconsistent interpretation and enforcement of these standards.

In 2009-2012, industry will continue to improve the efficiency of their operations to maintain their profitability and sustainability. This will be largely achieved through innovation and technological advancement. Our challenge will be to work proactively to anticipate potential areas for regulatory standards and other ways to ensure food safety. FSANZ will therefore need to maintain the capability and capacity to stay ahead of, and critically evaluate, these advances in science and technology.

Consumer expectations around the safety, quality and availability of food will continue to be high, linked to an increased interest by many in what they are eating. Health professionals and consumer groups are likely to promote a more proactive use of food to address longer term population health challenges such as obesity and diabetes. While policy guidelines will continue to be set by government, FSANZ can expect to be involved in more work which gathers and tests the evidence to support the development of standards and strategies that contribute to broader population health goals.

In meeting consumer and industry expectations, FSANZ operates within the constraints of its legislative responsibilities and broader government policy framework. We also have to remain cognisant of developments in the international sphere that might impact on our standards and the science that underpins them. Accordingly, we test and benchmark our work against our international regulatory peers and seek input to our decision making from public health professionals and centres of scientific excellence in Australia, New Zealand and overseas. We also have a rolling program of review of standards to ensure they remain fit for their intended purpose.

FSANZ believes that transparency is the key to accountability. Our standard development process will, therefore, continue to welcome input by key stakeholders, including commentary and review of our draft conclusions and the evidence base.

It is in this operating environment that the FSANZ Board has developed the Corporate Plan 2009-2012. The aim is to maintain FSANZ’s reputation as an authoritative, flexible, fair and responsive national standards setting agency.

Vision

Strategic Imperatives

Objectives

Outcomes

Misson

Values