Auckland Council has display rules for food safety information certificates (food grades) to help Aucklanders make informed decisions about where they purchase food and to incentivise food businesses to achieve high food safety standards.
These rules are contained in the Food Safety Bylaw 2013, which will expire in May 2020. A review of the rules looked at what is working and what can be improved, resulting in a proposal for a new food safety bylaw – the Food Safety Information Bylaw 2020.
Public consultation on this proposed new bylaw is now open until Sunday 2 February 2020. You can have your say here.
Councillor Linda Cooper, Chair of the council’s Regulatory Committee, said the proposed new bylaw clarifies and strengthens existing rules about where to display food grades in restaurants, cafés, bars, and takeaways.
“The public, operators, and health experts support the display of food grades. The proposal will clarify the current rules and add a new requirement to display food grades online to help Aucklanders to make informed decisions about the food they choose to buy.”
“Under the current bylaw, around 7,300 Auckland businesses which serve food to the public are required to display a food grade.
“Over time, we have seen improvements in the number of ‘A’ food grades issued to food businesses. This year 89 per cent of those verified by the council received an ‘A’ grade. Only 0.1 per cent of food business were issued a ‘D’ or ‘E’ food grade”, she says.
The council’s Food Safety Information Bylaw continues to apply to most Auckland food businesses, such as most cafés, bars, takeaways and restaurants. However, the bylaw does not apply to food businesses with establishments in Auckland and other regions that are registered with the Ministry for Primary Industries, such as nationwide chain restaurants.
We propose that the new bylaw:
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clarifies the current requirement for most Auckland-only food businesses that serve the public (for example cafés, restaurants and takeaways) to display a food grade. Specifically, this means Auckland food businesses that operate under a Template Food Control Plan, serve the public, and are registered and verified by Auckland Council.
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requires food grades to be clearly displayed in specific physical and online locations. This clarifies requirements in the existing bylaw and introduces a new requirement to display food grades on online sites that the food business has control over (e.g. a website run by a café owner for that café).
How to have your say
We want to know what you think about the proposed new bylaw. This is how you can have your say:
- complete the online feedback form here. Free internet access is available at all Auckland libraries.
- give feedback at one of the following markets:
- Avondale Market, Sunday 8 December, at any time between 8:00 – 10:00am, Avondale Racecourse, 90 Ash St, 2 – 48 Ash St, Avondale
- Otara Market, Saturday 14 December, at any time between 8:00 – 10:00am, Carpark at 1R Newbury Street, Otara
- Henderson Night Market, Thursday 16 January, at any time between 6:00 – 8:00pm, Under Kmart, Waitakere Mega Centre, 5 Vitasovich Ave, Henderson
- Pakuranga Night Market, Saturday 18 January, at any time between 6:00 – 8:00pm, Under The Warehouse, Pakuranga Shopping Centre, 1 Aylesbury Street, Pakuranga
- Glenfield Night Market, Sunday 19 January, at any time between 6:00 – 8:00pm, Under Countdown, Corner of Bentley Ave and Glenfield Rd, Glenfield
Visit akhaveyoursay.nz for more information on the bylaw.
