Import and Export Food Weekly (11.12-11.16) Perspective | New Zealand Allows Cannabis Seeds to be Saled as Food Australia Emergency Recall Chinese Snacks Hidden Asphyxiation Risk

This week (11.12-11.16), Australia, South Korea and New Zealand issued food policies and announcements. The following two aspects are explained in terms of foreign policies and measures and infringement notices.

I. Foreign Import Policies and Measures

New Zealand allows cannabis seeds to be sold as food

On November 12, 2018, New Zealand's Ministry of Primary Industry (MPI) announced that amendments to the regulations allowing cannabis seeds to be sold as food came into force today. According to Bryan Wilson, head of food safety in New Zealand, cannabis seeds are safe to eat and nutritious and do not produce psychotropic effects.

Requirements for Biosafety Batch Label of Raw Shrimp in Australia

On November 13, 2018, the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR) issued IFN 161-18 Circular, which issued the requirements for batch labeling of raw shrimp meat. The main requirements are as follows:

1. Each primary package must contain a batch number which corresponds to the batch number specified in the attached health certificate.

2. Primary packaging is the retail or commercial packaging of products. Secondary packaging (i.e. external cartons) is not considered primary packaging.

3. Lack of batch details on primary packaging and products with batch numbers only on secondary packaging do not meet the import requirements of Australian raw shrimp.

4. Goods that do not meet the import requirements must be exported, disposed of or disposed of (i.e. cooked) in approved facilities.

South Korea issues part of the amendment announcement of the relevant regulations on inspection of imported food and so on

On November 14, the Food and Drug Safety Department of Korea (MFDS) issued Notice No. 2018-90, amending some contents of the Regulations on the Inspection of Imported Food, etc.

European Food Safety Agency expands the coverage of simplified food safety management system

On November 12, 2018, according to Food Safety News, the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) expanded the coverage of "simpler" food safety management methods to help small retailers and food donations. The simplified version of the system means that retailers do not need to have specific knowledge of professional hazards, nor do they need to classify and manage. For example, retailers may know that unprocessed meat is biologically harmful, but there is no need to confirm whether it is Salmonella.

South Korea Issued Revision Opinion Draft of "Rules for the Implementation of Health Functional Food Law"

On November 13, the Korean Food Safety Department (MFDS) issued the announcement 2018-467, which intends to amend some contents of the Rules for the Implementation of the Law on Health Functional Food. The main contents are as follows: 1. To clarify the change license of the business license of health functional food, the period of declaration is less than 7 days; 2. To simplify the business declaration of the temporary business of the general sellers of health functional food: health merits. When a general food sales practitioner intends to conduct temporary business in a place other than the declared business address for less than one month, the current business declaration certificate to the administrative organ shall be changed to business declaration.