Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is calling for comment on an application to permit the use of the enzyme phospholipase C as a processing aid.

The Food Standards Australia and New Zealand Board met on 26 March 2025 to discuss and decide on standards matters, as well as governance, organisational, performance, and strategic matters. 

FSANZ experts recently joined the 100th meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), helping inform international decisions on the safety of food additives.

JECFA’s scientific evaluations support Codex Alimentarius standards, which underpin food regulations around the world, including our Food Standards Code. 

Australia and New Zealand acknowledged their shared commitment to a safe and innovative food system at a FSANZ Board stakeholder event hosted by the New Zealand Food Safety Minister, the Hon Andrew Hoggard at New Zealand Parliament last month.

Minister Hoggard was joined by the Australian High Commissioner, Mr Daniel Sloper PSM and FSANZ Board Chair Glenys Beauchamp in celebrating the strength of the long-standing trans-Tasman food regulation partnership.

Foodborne illness costs the Australian economy around $3 billion each year, up from $2.81 billion in 2023, updated FSANZ estimates show.

About a quarter of Australia’s annual gastroenteritis cases are linked to contaminated food. 

Food ministers from Australia and New Zealand are now considering a proposal to modernise how genetically modified (GM) food is defined in the Food Standards Code, following approval by our Board.

Under the changes, outdated, process-based definitions for GM food will be replaced with clearer, outcome-based ones. 

The updated definitions, developed through Proposal P1055 – Definitions for gene technology and new breeding techniques, bring the Code into line with current science and international regulatory approaches used in economies like Canada, Japan and England.