Food Act 2014

The Food Act applies to anyone who provides food to the public, including retailers, manufacturers and food service businesses.

The main feature of the Food Act 2014 is a sliding scale where businesses that are high risk in terms of food safety operate under stricter food safety requirements and checks than lower risk food businesses.

All new food businesses and food businesses currently registered with Council need to be registered under one of the following options (as required by the Act). This assures everyone that there are processes to minimise food safety risks.

My food rules

Depending on the type of business you have, you may either need to operate under:

• a food control plan (FCP)
• a national programme (NP)

Use the Ministry of Primary Industries' (MPI), My food rules tool to find what food safety rules your business or activity needs to follow.

What is a food control plan?

Higher risk businesses will operate under a written food control plan (FCP) whereby the operator will identify food safety risks and steps they will need to take to manage these risks. The plan includes pre-printed records to help you meet the requirements of the Act.

Most high risk businesses can use a template FCP but for some specific businesses, they must develop their own plan to suit which is referred to as a custom FCP.

Template food control plan

Businesses that will use a template FCP include:

• food service businesses like restaurants, cafes, takeaways, caterers
• food retailers that prepare or manufacture and sell food - eg, butchers, bakeries,  delis or supermarkets.

You can view and print the template FCP under MPI forms and templates

Custom food control plans

Businesses that will need to develop a custom FCP include:

• pre-made food for vulnerable populations like babies or the elderly
• manufactured fresh ready-to-eat meals, perishable sauces, dips or dressings
• manufactured meat, poultry, fish, dairy or processed egg products.

Training requirements

All your staff need to have a good understanding of the food control requirements for their area of work.

The day-to-day manager must be familiar with, and understand, all food control procedures before training your staff. You'll need to complete and sign a staff training record for each person who works in your business.

What is a national programme?

Low-risk food businesses operate under one of three levels of national programme to meet their obligations under the Act. Below is a rough guide to the different levels of national programme, and which sorts of food business they cover.

NP 1 applies to businesses such as:

• transporters or distributors of food products
• horticultural food producers and horticultural packing operations (pack-houses)
• retailers of manufacturer-packaged ice cream and iced confectionery

NP 2 applies to businesses such as:

• bread bakeries
• manufacturers of jams, chips and confectionery
• manufacturers of sauces and spreads

NP 3 applies to businesses such as:

• brewers and distillers
• dairies
• service stations

Registering with us

You can register your template FCP or NP with Council. You can complete the form online or print it.

If your business nominates a third party verifier to complete your verification, a letter from your verifier must be included with your application for registration. You can find a list of verifiers on the MPI website. 

If you choose to use Hutt City Council as your verifier, our Standard Terms for Verification apply.

Food safety verification service complaint

As an organisation that provides a food safety verification service, we welcome feedback from our customers. We want to hear from you if you feel dissatisfied with any part of our service related to the verification process.

Communication should be directed to the Team Leader Environmental Health in the first instance.

To find out more read our information sheet on making an environmental health service complaint (PDF 47.4 kb)

If you are unhappy with a process or technical decision made by us about the verification process please contact MPI.  

More information 

If you have any questions or concerns about your business, email environmental.health@huttcity.govt.nz or call 04 570 6666 and ask to speak to the Environmental Health Duty Officer.