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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-02 Daily Xml
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EGG STANDARDS

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (15:38): I would like to change the subject and speak today about the new egg food safety standard—standard 4.2.5—and accreditation requirements that came into force on 1 March 2012. To comply, producers who have more than 50 birds and produce eggs to a food business and sell at a market or wholesale, or sell to another producer, must be accredited. As stated in the media release, Food Standards Australia New Zealand developed the new standards in response to the large number of foodborne illness outbreaks suspected of being linked to eggs.

The standard is a national standard and has been rolled out by all states and territories, but has caught many small producers by surprise and the consultation from our state government has been far from satisfactory. PIRSA consulted with large producers, yet smaller ones were forgotten. The new standard was gazetted on 27 January 2012, but producers at the Barossa Farmers Market were not contacted by PIRSA until March. This lack of consultation seems to be a recurring theme with this Labor government.

It seems strange that the Labor government 'forgot' to consult with small producers, many of whom supply farmers markets, when the brochure put out by Biosecurity SA, entitled Egg Food Safety and Producers, says, 'Producers involved in one or more of the following must be accredited under the scheme.' There is a list provided and one of the dot points states: 'Produce and sell eggs at a market (e.g. a farmers market).'

Given farmers markets are specifically listed as one point of sale for eggs where producers will comply with the new standard, why were they not consulted much earlier? Aside from the lack of consultation, the requirement on small producers really is an impost. Some producers may only sell a very small amount of eggs, perhaps a few dozen cartons at a local farmers market every week. The fees and associated compliance will be prohibitive for many. The fees and other requirements include: $425 for the application for accreditation, $175 annual fee for accreditation, compilation-approved food safety arrangement, new egg cartons or re-used cartons that are clearly marked with the producers details, and all eggs must be individually stamped.

I can understand the logic behind stamping eggs to ensure their traceability. If the unfortunate and rare case occurs where someone becomes ill from an egg-borne virus then the source of the egg can be traced more easily and perhaps a larger outbreak of illness can be prevented. There is already a requirement in Queensland to stamp eggs, and the costs associated with this are estimated to be approximately 0.083¢ per egg, with an individual outlay of approximately $100 for the manual stamping equipment.

I believe small producers could cope with this, but what justification is there for such exorbitant accreditation fees, both initially and on an annual basis? I understand that a representative of PIRSA, in a presentation to producers at the Barossa Farmers Market, gave an undertaking that PIRSA was willing to assist small producers with these fees and requirements. I hope the government follows through with this and provides fee relief, support and assistance. If not, I am certain we will see eggs disappear from sale at our farmers markets in the future, which would be a great shame.

I commend farmers markets. They are extremely popular and well supported. No doubt members in this house would attend farmers markets, because buyers regularly purchase fresh local-grown product, and usually the producer is standing behind the counter. If there was a problem, surely the customer would raise it with the producer, because that person is standing there. I have not heard of any problem. Again, this is an overreaction and further regulation for the sake of it, and that is what Labor does.

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