Uncooked ready-to-eat meat products, includinguncooked ready-to-eat dried meat (for example, jerky), uncooked ready-to-eat sausages(for example, salami), uncooked ready-to-eat spreadable sausages (for example,mettwurst)

Proposed changes to the inspection and analysis of uncooked ready-to-eat meat - request for comment.

Australia is preparing science-based risk statements on therisks associated with certain imported foods. As each risk statement is prepared, theyare published on the Food Standards Australia New Zealand website(http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/importedfoods/Pages/FSANZ-advice-onimported-food.aspx).In response to the risk statement on uncooked ready-to-eat meat, Australia is proposingchanges to the inspection and analysis of uncooked ready-to-eat meat.Australia proposes these changes to protect public health and safety and ensure thatthese ready-to-eat meat products are produced with hygienic controls equivalent tothose in Standard 4.2.3 - Production and Processing Standard for Meat of the AustraliaNew Zealand Food Standards Code.Under the proposed changes a recognised government certificate would be required foruncooked ready-to-eat meat and these foods could not be imported into Australiawithout this certificate. The form and content of the certificate would be agreed betweenAustralia and the exporting country following an assessment of whether the uncookedready-to-eat meat products in the exporting country are produced with hygienic controlsequivalent to those in Standard 4.2.3 of the Australia New Zealand Food StandardsCode.Specific detail on the proposed changes is available athttp://www.agriculture.gov.au/import/goods/food/notices/ifn-18-16.It is expected that the changes would take effect in December 2016.