Check what your business needs to do, and when, before you sign up to a food safety course, the council says. Photo / FIle
Check what your business needs to do, and when, before you sign up to a food safety course, the council says. Photo / FIle
Some Far North food businesses are paying significant sums of money to training providers only to find they still don't meet new rules set by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
The warning comes from the Far North District Council which says some food retailers are being talked into payingfor extensive food safety training that isn't required under the new law.
The training providers are promising to help businesses make the changeover from the old Food and Hygiene Regulations, which date back to 1974, to the new Food Act which is being phased in over a three-year period.
After completing the training some businesses are discovering they still don't comply - and that the deadline for meeting the new rules is still a year away.
District services manager Dean Myburgh urged all cafe, takeaway and commercial food businesses to check their obligations under the 2014 Food Act before they commit to food safety training.
As part of the new law all food preparation businesses had to pay a fee and get signed off by the council, the only local agent that could act on MPI's behalf.
Business owners could go to the MPI website, www.mpi.govt.nz, then search for the 'Where do I fit' page to work out what they had to do, and when, to make the changeover to the new regulations. There was still a year to go in the nationwide transition process led by MPI, he said.
Any business owners still confused about their obligations could call the council's Environmental Health Services team on 0800 920 029.
