New Zealand Seafood Industry Welcomes NZ And US Food Safety

Friday, 14 December 2012, 10:01 am
Press Release: Seafood New Zealand

14.12.2012

New Zealand Seafood Industry Welcomes NZ And US Food Safety Agreement

The New Zealand seafood industry today welcomed the joint agreement between United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) recognising each other’s food safety systems as comparable to each other.

“The agreement is a vote of confidence in New Zealand’s food safety system and in the high quality of New Zealand’s seafood products,” says Lesley Campbell, Acting Chief Executive of Seafood New Zealand.

Ms Campbell says the agreement will mean greater commercial certainty for the seafood industry, as well as providing US consumers with even more confidence in New Zealand seafood.

“At a practical level it will reduce compliance costs, for example, with less inspection and oversight of our products at the border we can expect those products to move more quickly into the United States.

Ms Campbell says that New Zealand exports around ten per cent of its seafood to the United States directly, with a value of NZ$147 million for the year ended 31 October 2012.

“United States is our number one market for Greenshell™ Mussels with exports valued at NZ$59 million for the year ended 31 October, 2012.

The agreement is a significant achievement for New Zealand and has been closely followed and supported by the New Zealand seafood industry since the initial discussions started in 2010.

“We would like to thank both the FDA and MPI for their commitment in bringing this historic agreement to the table,” says Ms Campbell.

ENDS

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