Plant products

On this page

• Plant Products Food Safety Scheme
• Assistance is available to industry
• Notifying business details to the Authority
• Need more info?

Plant Products Food Safety Scheme

The Food Regulation 2004 was amended to include the Plant Products Food Safety Scheme in September 2005.

The Plant Product Food Safety Scheme applies to the following high risk plant product industries:

• fresh cut fruit and vegetables
• unpasteurised juices
• seed sprouts
• vegetables in oil

The Plant Products Food Safety Scheme requires high risk plant product businesses conducting any of the following activities to be licensed with the NSW Food Authority:

• processing of fruit or vegetables to produce fresh cut ready-to-eat (RTE) products;
• sprouting and processing of seed spouts;
• extraction and/or packaging of juice from fruit or vegetables where the juice is not subsequently pasteurised;
• production of vegetables or fruit in oil;
• refrigerated storage of these plant products, and
• refrigerated distribution and/ or transporting of these plant products.

These businesses, except those that only store, distribute or transport plant products, must implement and maintain a food safety program approved by the Authority.

These businesses must also comply with the requirements of the Plant Products Safety Manual issued by the Authority. The Manual was last revised in November 2007.

Assistance is available to industry

Please refer to the links below for further information.

• Industry Assistance Material for the Development of Food Safety Program (Plant Products)
• Plant products licence application form (pdf, 106KB)
• Plant Products Regulation Inquiries
• Plant Products Regulatory Impact Statement (pdf, 900KB)
• Plant Products Safety Manual (pdf, 127KB) 
  • See page 31 of manual for more information on the seed sprout pre-screening process.
• Shelf stable acid preserved foods (pdf, 97KB )
  Outlines the criteria the Authority uses to assess shelf stability

Notifying business details to the Authority

Clause 4 of Standard 3.2.2 of the Code requires all NSW food businesses to notify the Authority of their details unless they hold a separate licence from the Authority. Notification can be done through this website.

Need more info?

Please don’t hesitate to contact the Authority if you have any queries at contact@foodauthority.nsw.gov.au or on 1300 552 406.