Changes to the Food ACT 2014. What does it mean for you.

"What's this 108 page Food Control Plan the council's just handed me? Help!"

Under the new Food Act 2014 you're going to need to have a Food Control Plan in place if you prepare and sell food for general consumption.

Although the official implementation date is March 2016 a number of Food Safety Officers have approached businesses to enroll them in the early adopter program. It appears the communication on this has been poor about what they need to do to complete the Food Safety Plan template.

We have had a number of our customers coming to us very confused and more than a little worried about their compliance under the new act.

So essentially;

• The Food ACT 2014 was passed last year
• Under the act businesses will be classed as high or medium risk
• High risk businesses - one's that prepare and sell meals, sell raw meat, sell seafood
• Medium risk businesses - one's that sell pre-packaged food
• High risk businesses will need to operate under a written Food Control Plan
• Medium risk businesses can operate under a National Program
• Higher risk businesses will  be transitioned to the new Food Control Plans first. This will happen progressively from March 2016
• Most high risk businesses are using the MPI Food Control Plan Template

Now this is where the fun starts! The Food Control Plan template is a 108 page document that needs to be completed by the business owner. Many small business owners, particularly where English is the second language, are finding this a daunting prospect. First impressions are that they will need to invest a lot of time and money to ensure they comply under the new act.

That's the bad news. The good news is you should be doing what the food plan is asking now, it's just a matter of documenting the process to ensure all essential tasks are covered and their is a person responsible for completing these tasks.

You can complete this yourself, which will be confusing and time consuming or you can engage a consultant to complete this for you, again there would be an invest in time as well as significant cost.

At Bug King we're providing free consultancy services for customers on our A.R.M. Assure and A.R.M. Assure+ Pest Control Programs to complete the plan. We're very knowledgeable of the Food Plan requirements and can significantly reduce your investment in time and cost.

If you're looking to review your current Pest Control program or need a program under the new Food Control Plan, please give us a call and kill two birds with one stone.

The team at Bug King

p. 0800 54 64 54     e. info@bugking.co.nz    w. bugking.co.nz