Food Control Plans and National Programmes
National programmes
Lower and medium risk businesses follow a national programme. If you're under a national programme, you don't need a written plan (or develop written procedures), but must register, meet food safety standards, keep some records, and get checked. Like food control plans, national programmes require food businesses to develop a system to demonstrate food is safe to eat and they are compliant with the Food Act 2014.
There are three levels of national programmes, which are based on the food safety risk of the activities a business does:
- National Programme 1 – lower risk. Examples of such businesses are transporters or distributors of food products; horticultural food producers and horticultural packing operations (packhouse); retailers of manufacturer-packaged ice cream and iced confectionery.
- National Programme 2 – medium risk. Examples of such businesses are bread bakeries; maufacturers of jams, chips and confectionary; manufacturers of sauces and spreads.
- National Programme 3 – higher risk. Examples of such businesses are brewers and distillers; food additive manufacturers; fruit drink and flour manufacturers.
Guidance documents are available from MPI for food businesses working under national programmes to help manage food safety risks. However, businesses will need to assess the material and apply it to their premises as appropriate. This may involve developing your own processes in order to manage food safety risks at your business.
Find out more about national programmes and view guidance documents on the MPI website.
Using higher risk based measures
In certain circumstances businesses ordinarily subject to national programmes may choose to opt up to a food control plan. This is voluntary, but some prefer to have pre-written processes to follow. This option is not available to all businesses and it is strongly recommended you contact an Environmental Health Officer before taking up this option.
All businesses opting up to higher risk-based measures retain the verification frequency attributed to their original expected registration type. For example a national programme level two business running a FCP would only be verified every three years.