The purpose of this notice is to advise of amendments to the tests applied to surveillance food that come into effect for all entries lodged from 24 April 2018.
Summary of changes effective from 24 April 2018
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has completed a review of the surveillance tests applied to the following imported food products:
Fresh and frozen meat
Fruit and vegetables that are minimally processed and are ready to eat
Dried herbs
Shredded coconut, chilled or frozen
Hemp seed and hemp seed products
Surveillance tests are randomly applied at a rate of 5 per cent of consignments.
Fresh and frozen meat – antimicrobial screen
The pesticide screen that has been applied to imports of meat, edible offal and animal fats at the surveillance rate since December 2006 will cease as of 24 April 2018. This test will be replaced by a screen for certain antibiotic residues identified as being of high importance to human medicine. The screen will initially be limited to include testing for fluoroquinolones （same as those in the seafood/fish antimicrobial screen）， cephalosporins （ceftiofur） and streptogramins （virginiamycin）。
Selected minimally processed fruit and vegetables - E. coli and Salmonella
In March 2015 the department introduced surveillance testing for E. coli in frozen ready-to-eat berries as an indicator of process hygiene following the outbreak of hepatitis A in this food. A review of microbiological risks associated with other fresh and minimally processed fruits and vegetables identified other types of ready-to-eat horticultural products susceptible to microbiological contamination. As a result of this review, the department will add E. coli testing to:
Fresh baby corn
Sweet/sugar snap peas
Fresh chillies
Frozen spinach
Dried, semi dried and sundried tomatoes
Dried dates
and Salmonella testing to:
Dried and powdered herbs
Shredded coconut – chilled and/or frozen
Foods imported as an ingredient or going for further processing are excluded from these tests as they receive a heat treatment through cooking which eliminates the risk.
The department will use the standards established by the International Commission on Microbiological Specification for Foods （ICMSF） to determine compliance with section 3（2） of the Imported Food Control Act which states that food poses a risk to human health if it contains pathogenic micro-organisms or their toxins, or, micro-organisms indicating poor handling.
Hemp seeds and hemp seed products
On 12 November 2017, the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code was amended to permit the sale of low-tetrahydrocannabinol （low-THC） Cannabis sativa seed （known as hemp seed） as food or for use as an ingredient in food.
On 24 April 2018 the department will introduce testing of hemp seeds and hemp seed food products at the surveillance rate to verify that imports are derived from low THC cannabis sativa seed and comply with the permitted levels for total THC and cannabidiol set down in Standard 1.4.4 'Prohibited and restricted plants and fungi‘。
Hemp seed and hemp seed protein powders/flour referred for inspection will be cleared where:
total THC is not more than 5 mg/kg
cannabidiol is not more than 75 mg/kg
Hemp oil （oil extracted from low THC hemp seed） will be cleared where:
total THC is not more than 10 mg/kg
cannabidiol is not more than 75 mg/kg
