What food safety regulations are in place for aquaculture products?
All commercially produced food products must comply with New Zealand’s food safety legislation and, if being exported, with any overseas requirements for processing, packing, and labelling.
Finfish and bivalve shellfish have slightly different food safety requirements. This is due to the filter-feeding behaviour of bivalve species (mussels, oysters, and clams) which may result in the concentration of any microbial, chemical or marine biotoxin contaminants present in the water. Many shellfish are eaten without removing the gut and often in a raw state so the food regulations require that they be harvested from clean and safe waters.
The costs incurred when registering a marine farm with government agencies, local bodies and meeting food safety requirements must be paid for in full by the farmer.
Shellfish
New Zealand’s mandatory shellfish food safety programme is based on international best practice, but has been adapted to take into account our unique environment and aquaculture practices.
The programme is managed by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) with the cooperation of their public health agents in district health boards and the shellfish industry.
For full details of this programme, refer to the Animal Products (Regulated Control Scheme – Bivalve Molluscan Shellfish) Regulations 2006 and the Animal Products (Specifications for Bivalve Molluscan Shellfish) Notice 2006. NZFSA maintains a list of shellfish growing areas classified for harvest for human consumption in New Zealand.
The programme requires that all farms are registered and classified using a system which assesses the public health risk of pollution from humans, animals and birds. Areas that are likely to have high pollution problems are classified as “Prohibited”.
Most areas in New Zealand are classified as “Conditionally Approved”. This means that they can be harvested safely at most times, but there are short-term closures after environmental events that will cause the water quality to drop below regulatory standards.
Rainfall is monitored as it usually results in land run-off and an increase in bacterial activity in the seawater. Each water quality management area will have site specific criterion which closes the farms to harvesting for a few days allowing the water to flow clean again and to allow the shellfish to purge any pollutants.
Once an area is classified and registered by NZFSA, there are regular monitoring requirements to verify that product harvested from the area meets food safety standards. To accomplish this, samples of water and shellfish will be taken regularly to check for microbial, chemical, phytoplankton, and marine biotoxin levels.
Finfish
As finfish do not pose the same level of food safety risk as shellfish, the regulatory requirements are a lot less. New Zealand seawater is pathogen free for the types of finfish farmed, which means farmers do not need to use pharmaceutical drugs to ensure healthy fish.
It is possible, however, that NZFSA will require an occasional fish sample to be taken to test for heavy metals and other chemical residues to test flesh quality against international standards.
Processing seafood
Shellfish, finfish, and any other aquaculture products that may be commercially harvested for food, e.g. seaweed species, must be processed in a processing environment that meets the NZFSA’s strict hygiene standards. All processing operations must be registered and are regularly audited by NZFSA officials or their local agents in Territorial Authorities. Beyond this, companies should routinely take microbiological samples and are required to keep records of their quality assurance programmes.
Companies producing ready-to-eat products, such as smoked seafood, must also have microbiological programmes that monitor their premises and products for Listeria monocytogenes.
