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Date | Amount (NZ$) | Type and purpose |
---|---|---|
1 July - 31 December | $2,105 | Domestic flights for entity visits, meetings, regional staff visits |
1 July - 31 December | $576 | Domestic accommodation & meals for entity visits, meetings, regional staff visits |
1 July - 31 December | $906 | Domestic car hire, taxis and other travel for entity visits, meetings, regional staff visits (other travel parking charges, shuttles etc.) |
Total domestic travel expenses | $3,587 |
Date | Amount (NZ$) | Type and purpose |
---|---|---|
1 July - 31 December | $3,979 | Domestic flights for entity visits, meetings, regional staff visits - cancellation fees |
1 July - 31 December | $576 | Domestic accommodation & meals for entity visits, meetings, regional staff visits |
1 July - 31 December | $1,250 | Domestic car hire, taxis and other travel for entity visits, meetings, regional staff visits (other travel parking charges, shuttles etc.) |
Total domestic travel expenses | $5,805 |
Date | Amount (NZ$) | Type and purpose |
---|---|---|
29 November 2022- 2 December 2022 | $4,178 | Australasian Council of Auditors General meeting and Department of Foreign Affairs Trade meeting |
Total International travel expenses | - |
Date | Amount (NZ$) | Type and purpose |
---|---|---|
- | ||
Total International travel expenses | - |
Date | Amount (NZ$) | Type and purpose |
---|---|---|
20 July 2022 | $474 | International visit AG Solomon Islands and AG Australia Capital Territory |
16 November 2022 | $49 | Morning tea Niue Parliamentarians - 8 attendees |
23 November 2022 | $557 | Alumni function - 32 attendees |
6 December 2022 | $115 | Function AG/DAG/Retirees - 17 attendees |
Total hospitality expenses | $1,195 |
Date | Amount (NZ$) | Type and purpose |
---|---|---|
30 September 2022 | $87 | Meeting lunch ex Auditor-General |
Total hospitality expenses | $87 |
Date | Amount (NZ$) | Type and purpose |
---|---|---|
1 July 2022 | $735 | CA ANZ 2022-2023 Membership |
25 October 2022 | $1,000 | AG Prize Govt Accounting & Finance 2022 |
11 November 2022 | $100 | Gift given to XXIV INCOSAI host |
Total other - Expenses | $1,835 |
Date | Amount (NZ$) | Type and purpose |
---|---|---|
1 July 2022 | $735 | CA ANZ 2022-2023 Membership |
Total other - Expenses | $735 |
To include such items as meals, tickets to events, gifts from overseas counterparts, travel or accommodation (including that accepted by immediate family members).
Date | Description | Offered by | Estimated value (NZ$) |
---|---|---|---|
Gifts | |||
20 July 2022 | Two wooden carvings of heads | Auditor-General Solomon Islands | >$50 |
Hospitality | |||
9 August 2022 | Dinner end of the term Speaker of the House | Rt Hon Trevor Mallard | >$50 |
15 September 2022 | Spirit of Service Awards 2022 dinner | Public Service Commission | >$50 |
Date | Description | Offered by | Estimated value (NZ$) |
---|---|---|---|
Gifts | |||
- | - | - | - |
Hospitality | |||
9 August 2022 | Dinner end of the term Speaker of the House | Rt Hon Trevor Mallard | >$50 |
Auditor-General's overall total for disclosure (includes gifts) - $10,795
Deputy Auditor-General's overall total for disclosure (includes gifts) - $6,627.
Date | Amount (NZ$) | Type and purpose |
---|---|---|
23 September 2022 | $135 | Farewell gift for Chief Executive |
9 September 2022 | $225 | Travel - Meeting Chief Executive |
23 September 2022 | $614 | Travel - 31st PASAI Governing Board meeting |
23 - 25 November 2022 | $327 | Travel - PASAI 32nd Governing Board meeting |
3 - 11 November 2022 | $6,511 | Travel - (Economy class) & accommodation - Attend XXIV INCOSAI Rio De Janeiro, Brazil |
PASAI total | $7,812 | PASAI total excludes gst |
Page last updated: 20 March 2023
Title: Monitoring importers of specified high-risk foods
The amount of food New Zealand imports is steadily increasing. We all expect that food to be safe when we buy it.
Our Office carried out an audit of how well the Ministry for Primary Industries monitors importers of food that presents a greater risk to consumers.
Some of these specified high-risk foods, including frozen berries and tahini, have been associated with food recalls and illness in New Zealand.
Under the Food Act, importers are responsible for ensuring that food they bring into the country is safe and suitable.
The Ministry’s role is to check whether food importers are meeting their responsibilities. It’s also tasked with ensuring that food import requirements are working effectively.
We found that the Ministry needs to strengthen both its monitoring of food importers and its understanding of the effectiveness of import requirements.
Currently, the Ministry does not have a clear understanding of the effectiveness of the food import system. This is because it has not been consistently monitoring whether importers are assessing the safety and suitability of specified high-risk foods before they arrive in the country.
The Ministry also does not collect all the information it needs to assess the effectiveness of the requirements for importing these foods.
The risks from some imported foods are being managed reactively. This means that, in some cases, action is only taken after people have fallen ill.
The Ministry is aware of these issues, agrees with our findings, and has made some improvements. But it needs to do more to respond to a food import market that is subject to changing food trends and risks.
Since 2021, the Ministry has been working on proposals to strengthen the food safety system, including more monitoring of importers and imported food. The Ministry has begun public consultation on two proposed levies, including a food importer levy to support increased monitoring.
This is positive progress.
However, the Ministry also needs to do more with the information it already collects to build and maintain a better understanding of importers’ compliance with food import requirements and the effectiveness of those requirements.
Our report contains three recommendations to support the Ministry’s work on a more effective food import system.
Title: Read our report at oag.parliament.nz
1.1
New Zealanders expect the food they buy to be safe. The market for imported food is complex and often changing. Changes in what we like to eat and how we eat it affect what is imported and where it is imported from.
1.2
As at 2020, New Zealand imports food from 218 countries. The volumes of food imported into New Zealand have not changed much in recent years. However, the value of imported food has increased. In 2022, imported food was valued at $8.5 billion (see Figure 1). In early 2024, there were more than 3700 registered food importers in the country.
Source: Based on data from the Ministry for Primary Industries.
1.3
When new types of food are imported, and from new places of origin, there can be new risks to public health that will need to be managed.
1.4
Some imported foods have been associated with food recalls and outbreaks of foodborne illness. Between June 2022 and July 2023, 39 people contracted Hepatitis A in cases that were attributed to consuming imported frozen berries. Half of these people were hospitalised.
1.5
The latest figures from the Ministry for Primary Industries (the Ministry) showed that of the 60 consumer-level recalls that occurred in 2022, 27 were for imported food. This was an increase on previous years.
1.6
The Food Act 2014 (the Food Act) regulates the importing of food into New Zealand1 and makes importers responsible for the safety and suitability of the food they import. The Ministry is responsible for monitoring importers' compliance with the Food Act.
1.7
We carried out an audit to understand how well the Ministry monitors food importers' compliance with the requirements for importing foods that present a greater risk to consumers and public health (specified high-risk foods).
1.8
New Zealand's food import system relies on a level of trust that importers are assessing the safety and suitability of food that will be sold to the public. As with any system involving trust, checks are needed to ensure that importers are meeting their responsibilities.
1.9
Data supplied by the Ministry showed that, in 2022, specified high-risk foods made up 7.4% of imported food by value and 3.3% of imported food by weight.
1.10
We looked at:
1.11
We expected that:
1.12
Monitoring importers and having effective food importing requirements are parts of a broader food safety system, which includes domestically produced food. We did not look at the broader food safety system for this audit.
1.13
This is the first of two rapid performance audits announced in our 2023/24 annual plan. Our rapid audits are intended to provide insight and analysis into matters of public interest in a short time frame. This audit was completed in 12 weeks.
1.14
The Controller and Auditor-General and the Deputy Controller and Auditor-General are independent Officers of Parliament. Their independence, and the independence of those who work on their behalf, is critically important to the good standing of the Office's work. To help maintain Parliament's and the public's trust and confidence, the Office of the Auditor-General has a Code of Ethics. The Code includes the independence requirements that the Auditor-General and those who carry out work on their behalf need to meet.
1.15
The Deputy Auditor-General, Andrew McConnell, recently held Deputy Director-General positions in the Ministry for Primary Industries. He was appointed to the role of Deputy Auditor-General in May 2023 and has not been involved with any aspect of this performance audit.
1: The Animal Products Act 1999 and the Wine Act 2003 are also components of the food safety system.