A Snapshot of Food Safety for NSW

The NSW Food Authority is Australia's only integrated food regulatory agency. The NSW Government Food Safety Strategy paper provides a good snapshot of information about food businesses in NSW.

• Food is vital to the  NSW economy- contributing almost a quarter of the states gross product in 2012.
• There are 55,00 food businesses in NSW, and 40,000 retail food service businesses. 
• Exports of food accounts for 8% of NSW exports. 
• The NSW Food authority has issued over 66,000 Food Safety Supervisor certificates, since inception of the program 5 years ago.
  
• In 2013-14 only 2% of  the 16,000 food businesses audited and inspected did not meet the required food safety standards.

• Around 4.1 million cases of foodborne illness are reported nationally each year, with an annual cost of $1.25 billion to our health system.

• Foodborne illnesses remain a significant health issue in Australia, mainly due to Salmonella, Campylobacter and Listeria bacteria, and allergen anaphylaxis cases

• By 2030, the number of Asian consumers capable of discretionary spending is forecast to increase sixfold. China and India are shifting their focus from food security to food safety and quality, reflecting their rising purchasing power and experiences with food safety incidents.

• Australia is fortunate to have one of the world’s safest food chains, ranking eighth out of 109 countries.

The NSW Food Authority also sets some interesting targets to achieve in the next 5 years, including the ensuring 20% of packaged products have the health star rating on the product label, and to have 75% of retail food service outlets in the scores on doors campaign and to increase food exports.
Correct Food Systems can assist you with these campaigns, working with you to develop your health star rating, compliance and food export arrangements.

A copy of the strategy document is available here or from the NSW Food Authority.