The Western Australian food industry is comprised of over 900 processing companies employing a labour force or approximately 16,500. The annual turnover for the industry in 2006/07 was estimated to be AU$5.4 billion and the food industry accounts for 14 per cent of the Western Australian manufacturing sector (Department of Agriculture and Food, 2008).

Documents and information can be found below on the following topics;

• Statistics
• Regulation
• Food Labelling
• Food Retail
• Labour
• Food Saftey
• Exporting
• Importing
• Marketing
• Manufacturing
• Packaging

Statistics

Click here to be linked the to FIA statistics page.

Regulation

For the production and sale of domestic food products, businesses must adhere to the standards put in place by regulatory body Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ). FSANZ's main responsibility is to develop and administer the ‘Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code’ (the Code), which lists requirements for foods such as additives, food safety, labelling and GM foods.

All international food products must adhere to the guidelines and standards put in place by CODEX Alimentarius.The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. Click here to see the list of CODEX standards for various food products.

Food Labelling

• New industry guide for Use by and Best before date labeling

• Food Industry Guide to Allergen Management and Labelling

• CODEX Food Labelling

• FSANZ Overview of Food Labelling

Food Retail

• Overview of Current Trends
• Food on the retail shelf - a guide for businesses

Labour

457 Visa requirements

Food Saftey

• ISO 22000 Compliance

• FSANZ Food Safety Standards

• CODEX General Principals Food Safety Standards
• Standards for meat and meat products
• Microbiological limits for food products
• Safe food Australia - A guide to the food safety standards

Exporting

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services (AQIS) provides regulation for exports. Click here to visit the AQIS website.

Importing

AQIS also controls regulations for importing food. There are three sets of regulations applying to food imports:

• Imported Food Control Act 1992
  
• Imported Food Control Regulations 1993
  
• Imported Food Control Order 2001

Marketing

• Australian Made

• Buy WA First

• Buy West, Eat Best

• Great Southern Taste WA

Manufacturing

• Asset Management
• The 6 biggest losses of production time

Packaging

• Biodegradable packaging regulation
• Woolworths private label packaging requirements

Setting up a food premises

• Legal Requirements

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