Last month’s Solidarity Session was an open invite to inform market gardeners across the country about upcoming changes to regulations and licensing and what they could mean once interpreted by state regulators. Smallholders are no strangers to unfair and inconsistent regulation, and the misconceptions about foodborne illness and its causes are widespread.
In 2022, AFSA noted a campaign loss on behalf of its members as Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) announced increased regulation for P1052 Primary Production and Processing Requirements for Horticulture - berries, leafy vegetables and melons, which will come into effect in February 2025. In fact, only one percent of all foodborne outbreaks reported in Australia in 2017 were attributed to fresh produce. Major outbreaks of food-borne diseases in produce up to 2022 are largely attributed to imported goods (such as frozen berries) and industrial farming.
We are mobilising a collective campaign against the proposed regulations and we want to hear from you leading up to our next Solidarity Session (Wednesday 31st May 6:30pm-7:30pm) to help inform our next moves and also gather some case studies with explicit contextual information that we can use within our submission to FSANZ in the hope that these regulations do not go ahead and impact our small-scale market gardeners.
Any information and suggestions you might have are warmly welcomed and we hope to hear from you before the next solidarity session. Just a reminder that this will be a members only session, so if you are yet to join AFSA check out more information
here about becoming a member. We would love to have you on board with us, fighting for a fairer food system in this country.
