Regulations and Compliance

Our regulatory and compliance programme is designed to ensure that all products for sale in our stores comply with New Zealand legislation and food safety regulations. The safety of our customers and staff is very important to us, and we expect our suppliers to feel the same way.

All food products you wish to offer for sale must comply with the Australia New Zealand Joint Food Code. This Code sets out New Zealand's food standards, so it’s an important document to get familiar with.  You can also find rules around domestic food composition in this document. If you’d like to download a copy of the Code and the associated User Guidelines, head to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Authority's website: www.foodstandards.govt.nz

All products offered to Foodstuffs and our Members must satisfy wider legislative and regulatory requirements relating to product safety, performance, and labelling. As a supplier to us, you are responsible for ensuring that your products conform to all requirements, which you will make the appropriate declarations to confirm.

Compliance Pack

We have developed a national Compliance Pack which all prospective suppliers must complete as part of their account application. Occasionally, we may ask that you reconfirm the details previously provided. This may occur where you extend your range to additional product types which are not covered by your Food Safety certification, or when your Food Safety certification is about to expire.

If you receive an interim approval from our Food Safety team, then you must become fully compliant within 6 months. 

All suppliers must maintain their Food Safety certificates and upload these into the Food Safety area of the Foodstuffs eXchange to show ongoing compliance and auditing in accordance with the ANZFSA regulations. You will see reminders of upcoming actions when you log in to the eXchange. If you don’t maintain your food safety certification, we may disable your account. This will prevent our stores from placing further orders with you until your certification has been updated.

Product Recalls

Foodstuffs uses the GS1 ProductRecallNZ system to manage product recalls. Our goal with any recall is to quickly and completely remove all affected products from sale. The ProductRecallNZ system has been selected as it gives great visibility and transparency to the recall process. We expect all suppliers to register with ProductRecallNZ and follow the processes within that system to ensure that our customers are safe in the event that a product must be recalled or withdrawn from sale. In very few cases where the products are low-risk and non-food, we may allow an exemption from this requirement. If you think you may be eligible for an exemption, get in touch with our regulatory team.

For more background, please check out this video.

Genetically Modified Foods

We operate by strict guidelines when it comes to any genetically modified foods offered for sale in Foodstuffs member stores, and all products must comply with Food Standard 1.5.2 of the Food Standards Code.

Specifically:

• No food containing a GM product is stocked unless it has been pre-approved by Food Standards Australia New Zealand for sale in New Zealand and Australian markets;
• All packaged foods sold from member stores must comply with labelling requirements indicating the presence of a GM food or ingredient.