District Non-profit Groups Will No Longer Need a Food Licence Amendments to the Government’s new Food Safety Act will mean that the district’s sausage sizzles, school fair cake stalls and charity fundraisers will no longer require a food licence to sell food. People selling food once a year, such as at a cultural festival or the like, will also be exempt from food licensing requirements under a Food Control Plan or a National Programme. Waimakariri District Council’s Resource Management and Regulation (RMR) Committee considered and approved a proposal from Council staff this week to apply the amendments to the Act, with immediate effect. The new Act allows someone who trades in food solely for fundraisers or to support a charity or cultural and community events to do so up to twenty times a year without registering or undergoing checks, but they will need to ensure that the food is safe and suitable to eat. Chair of the Council’s RMR Committee, Kirstyn Barnett, sees the decision as common sense. “Fundraising groups in the community were caught up in the legislative tightening of food safety rules to protect public health. This move will put money back into the community and remove unnecessary workload for event organisers and Council food safety inspectors”, she said. Ms Barnett believes the community have become much more aware of good food safety practices such as avoiding the handling of food and money together, and that the minimised risk has not to date justified the regulatory practice
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 00:53:13 +0000
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