Title: National produce monitoring system, safety net for monitoring chemicals in Australia's domestic food, axed by Government
[ABC News 18 March 2015 by Jake Sturmer] — A safety net for monitoring chemicals in Australia's domestic food has been axed by the Federal Government, the ABC has discovered. Government reports have identified significant gaps and deficiencies in Australia's agricultural chemical residue produce monitoring, as testing varies in each state and territory. The Labor government established a $25 million, five-year pilot in 2013 for a National Produce Monitoring System, which aimed to give consumers confidence and act as a vital safeguard. The system was scrapped in the finer detail of last year's budget. "[It was] $25 million we were prepared to spend on what I think was a program of great merit," Labor's agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said. "We are living in an environment where there is no bigger issue than food safety and I think the Government has some questions to answer." A spokesman for Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce argued it was not the Federal Government's responsibility and that the axing was a savings measure. "[The system] was a put forward as a budget savings measure as the Commonwealth has no power to enforce compliance with the domestic use of agricultural chemicals," the spokesman said. "This responsibility lies with the states and territories." Every state and territory agreed in-principle that a national monitoring system was necessary in April 2012, signing off on the idea at a Standing Council on Primary Industries meeting. "An enhanced produce monitoring program coordinated across Australia is required to ensure an increased level of confidence for consumer safety, allay potential trade concerns and to ensure validation of chemical regulation," the Decision Regulatory Impact Statement for the changes said. "The proposed targeted national approach to produce monitoring, tracebacks and sample analysis would provide additional safeguards in validating the system, allaying trade concerns and mitigating against any risks of illegal chemical use on around annual agricultural production of $50 billion, including $12.53 billion worth of exports of produce from minor crops over 10 years." The Federal Department of Agriculture declined to reveal to the ABC results it has produced thus far, saying there was only limited sampling and the pilot methodology was unsuitable for publishing. But in a random test for the system in Western Australia last year, six violations of pesticide limits were reportedly found in 80 samples of apricots and peaches. "If the data hasn't been released, well that's a great disappointment," Mr Fitzgibbon said. "It means that the $5 million at least we spent in year has been completely wasted." Comment
Article: WeedsNews5356 (permalink) Categories: :WeedsNews:policy, :WeedsNews:herbicides, :WeedsNews:health, :WeedsNews:trade Date: 7 April 2015; 9:41:46 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time