Food Safety
Thank you to all those who keep New Zealand food safe NZIFST Conference keynote presentation
Presented by Vincent Arbuckle, Deputy Director General, NZ Food Safety
NZ Food Safety’s Deputy Director General, Vincent Arbuckle began his keynote speech to NZIFST’s 2022 conference in July with a thank you to all those who carry out food safety work in New Zealand. Having just passed his own milestone of one year in the job of leading MPI’s Food Safety capabilities and future direction, he presented a thorough set of insights as contained in these excerpts from his speech. Aotearoa New Zealand has a truly world-class food safety system that each of us play a part in and can be proud of. Nevertheless we need to remember it is not a static system and never has been. The environment in which we operate and produce our food is constantly changing, so in order to retain the competitive position that we currently and rightly enjoy internationally we must evolve in return.
Is food safety in New Zealand good enough? The question at top of my mind for me as I’ve been setting priorities and reviewing specific areas is this. Is food safety in New Zealand good enough – be that from an outcome perspective, understanding the trends across major foodborne illnesses, the design and funding of the food safety system or viewing the system from a public health perspective and public communication? Another point that speaks volumes about food and the uniqueness of Aotearoa New Zealand is to give due prominence to Māori culture and the Treaty – Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Announced at Conference A National Food Safety Science Plan There is plenty of reason to have confidence in the thriving and innovative food safety science capability across industry, academic institutions, as well as government and private science and research institutes. The role played by the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre (NZFSSRC) in conjunction with NZ Food Safety to produce the new Food Safety Science Plan for Aotearoa New Zealand is evidence of that. In launching the Plan at the 2022 NZIFST Conference, NZ Food Safety’s Vincent Arbuckle commented: “Having a consensus science/ industry/regulator view and blueprint on food science priorities is something that could not be achieved without the NZFSSRC acting in a coordination role. I commend the new plan to you all and acknowledge the contribution that the wider steering group made under the leadership of the former director, Cath McLeod”. The Plan is available at https://www.nzfssrc.org.nz/
The question that this presents for all of us is about the extent to which the New Zealand food safety system, and our food story to domestic consumers and the world, can be more grounded in our indigenous culture, traditional knowledge and values. August/September 2022
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