Thursday 3 March

New fee schedule for food sellers

Council staff will be seeking submissions on fees for recovering registration and compliance costs for food businesses under the Food Act 2014 and Food Regulations 2015 that came into full effect on 1 March.

“The fees and process to get a food business certified is changing,” says regulatory services manager Sarwan Kumar.

Council administers the registration of food businesses in Tairawhiti, and verifies their compliance with the Act and reports to the Ministry for Primary Industries.

“The service is mostly user-pays and the fees cover the costs of time for food safety verification and administration.”

“The fees we’re proposing are fair based on what information is required for reporting to MPI and also how well businesses keep up to the required food safety standards.”

“The fees are also standard whether your business is in the city or up the coast where travel time won’t be charged for.

Businesses will be charged according to the time it takes for staff to complete food safety verificaitons.

“We’ll help businesses with to get registered and guidance on food safety practices which will save time processing and verifying and save you money on fees.”

We want food businesses to provide feedback about the proposal.

The proposed fees and charges will be available on council’s website and customer services centres from Monday 7 March.

Submissions are open until 5pm Wednesday 30 March.

ENDS

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