Unsafe sausage sizzlers face name-and-shame penalties

Sausage sizzle and school cake stall operators could be publicly shamed for breaching food preparation standards if new food hygiene proposals are adopted.

Discussion papers under the Food Safety Authority's domestic food review propose punishments be widened to include demerit points, a published grading system and guilty operators forced to make public apologies.

The authority has not decided which operators would be liable, but currently exempt operators of sausage sizzles, cake stalls and dairies could be included.

The proposal has fundraising groups worried.

"It's bureaucracy gone mad. If you're going to give dear old Mary demerit points, well, I'm sure she'll stop bringing in her scones," said Bob Clark, CEO of the Sporting Clubs Association.

Mr Clark said he agreed with what the authority was trying to do, but he could not see the point of extending it to small operators.

"How many people have got food poisoning at a sausage sizzle?"

Monitoring cake stalls and sausage sizzles would be a burden in money and time for these voluntary activities, he said.

Rural Women New Zealand spokeswoman Patsy Gordon said the organisation would wait to see what proposals were adopted.

"We're concerned, but we're still running our cake stalls to fund-raise. We don't want the authority to come down too hard on us."

North Shore City Council spokeswoman Duffy Visser said the move would not be practical. The city has six inspectors monitoring 980 licensed food premises.

"We can't visit each and every cake stall and sausage sizzle."

Ms Visser agreed with the call for heavier penalties, as those under the Food Hygiene Regulations Act 1974 were nominal.

The Food Safety Authority's policy director, Carole Inkster, said changes to legislation were needed as New Zealand had one of the worst rates of food poisoning in the developed world.

Ms Inkster said the proposed heavier punishments were intended to change the behaviour of people who were not complying.

She said the hygiene proposals would probably be extended to all food operators, but it was unlikely heavier punishments would be imposed on small operators.

The authority would be adopting a commonsense approach, and small operators breaching the act would most likely be educated on food safety, Ms Inkster said.

The review, which has been under way since March 2003, marks only the second time in the past 30 years that controls on New Zealand food have been the subject of a major review.

Workshops will be held around the country from next month to inform people of the proposals.

Food safety

Proposals to encourage food safety include

* A grading system.
* A published name and shame list.
* Public apologies.
* Infringement notices/fines.
* Demerit points, similar to the driver's licence system