Food safety
Share this page via
Overview
We’re lucky to live in a country where food safety is so well regulated from farm to plate. To keep it that way, we take food safety seriously.
Learn about the regulations and programs that help maintain our food safety standards.
Quality assurance and tracing
Most Australian pork is produced under the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Program (APIQ✓®).
The APIQ Program audits pig producers against comprehensive food safety standards.
The industry also has a comprehensive livestock traceability system in place – PigPass. If there was a food safety emergency, this tracing system lets us respond rapidly and take appropriate action.
We also participate in the National Residue Survey which monitors chemical residue levels in pork.
Food safety regulation
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) develops food standards to cover the food industry in Australia and New Zealand. FSANZ develop:
- The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code which is regulated in each state
And labelling for both packaged and unpackaged food, including:
- Specific mandatory warnings or advisory labels
- Country of origin labelling
As the industry body for pork, we strongly advocate for clearer food labelling. This helps to ensure consumers get clear and accurate information about the pork products they buy.
National Residue Survey
The National Residue Survey (NRS) is a random sampling program run by the Australian Government. As an industry, we perform well in the NRS.
On average, NRS results for pork have remained above 99% overall compliance with relevant Australian Standards since 2016.
The NRS monitors chemical residue levels in agricultural commodities to ensure they are kept at a safe level and tests for residues in pork, including:
- Agricultural chemicals (e.g. pesticides and antibiotics)
- Environmental contaminants (e.g. heavy metals)
- Other chemicals that have trade concern (e.g. Dioxin)
Monitoring is largely industry-funded through levies.