“A food control plan is about protecting
yourself and your business,”
-Caleb Drumm
New Regulations Risky
C
ritical changes have been
made to the Ministry for
Primary Industries Food
Act, yet many regional
hospitality service or retailers are
unaware of the new registration
requirements.
Many businesses across New
Zealand are set to have their
food licenses expire in August
and September of this year, and
unless they have developed and
registered and comprehensive
food control plan (FCP) by this
time will face being ruled non-
compliant and risk costly fines
or damage to their food grading
from Auckland Council.
Compliance officer Caleb Drumm
has visited more than 100
businesses in recent weeks and
is shocked at how many owners
either didn’t think the rules applied
to them or were completely
unaware of any changes.
initial plan taking their focus away
from the kitchen and management
of their establishment.
“Chefs and food business owners
often have to play multiple roles
and simply do not have the
spare time to move through the
complicated process involved in
the initial FCP set up,” says Caleb.
“There
seems
to
be
a
misunderstanding
that
only
restaurants and cafes need to
comply with new regulations,” he
says. “They don’t realise that even
if you are only making sandwiches
for sale you still require a food
control plan.” So he and his wife Anna created
Foodcontrolplans.co.nz,
a
business designed to help
highlight the true value of the
new system while giving business
owners and chefs the gift of less
time filling in paperwork.
Those that did know of the new
requirements were frustrated by
the onerous task of setting up the “The day to day running of your
food control plan records can
be vital and valuable evidence