Project number: 2018-004
Project Status:
Current
Budget expenditure: $812,452.02
Principal Investigator: Natalie R. Dowsett
Organisation: SARDI Food Safety and Innovation
Project start/end date: 30 Jun 2018 - 29 Jun 2021
Contact:
FRDC

Need

Maintaining and enhancing market access for Australian seafood is critical for future industry growth. SafeFish makes a significant contribution to this by carrying out three types of projects:
1. Food safety incident responses. The SafeFish partners come together during each incident to provide industry and government with immediate technical information required to respond to the incident. Subsequently, technical input is provided to update policies for prevention of similar incidents and respond to them should they recur. Appropriate technical responses reduce the impact of food safety incidents and ensure better outcomes for future management.
2. Technical input to inter-government consultations on food regulations and market access. It is essential for the Australian seafood industry to participate in consultations such as Codex to ensure that proposed new, or modified, regulations are pragmatic and cost-effective for the Australian seafood industry. It is far easier to influence standards under development than after they have been finalised. Similarly, it is essential for the seafood industry to stay in close contact with Food Safety Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) when domestic food safety regulations are reviewed.
3. Proactive research, risk analyses and training. The safety of Australian seafood is not negotiable in domestic and international markets. Over recent years SafeFish has conducted many activities to assist the industry anticipate and minimize food safety risks. The objective of the activities has always been to identify and mitigate risks before they cause a problem, or to grow knowledge to enable us to improve our risk management in a cost effective manner.

Objectives

1. To deliver robust food safety research and advice to industry and regulators that underpins Australia's reputation as a producer of safe seafood.
2. To maintain and enhance the capabilities in Australia to provide that research and advice in a cost effective, efficient and timely manner.

Report

ISBN: 978-1-876007-37-9
Authors: Natalie Dowsett Stephen Pahl Navreet Malhi Andreas Seger and Alison Turnbull
Report • 2021-06-30 • 828.13 KB
2018-004-DLD.pdf

Summary

SafeFish is an initiative that was developed by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) in 2010 (Project 2010-752-10: SafeFish - Seafood Trade Expert Panel funded by the Australian Seafood CRC until 2015). Following this, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and several industry bodies provided funding under two separate grants: Project 2015-212 which ran from 2015-2018 and the current grant Project 2018-004 which ran from 2018-2021. Since its inception, SafeFish has successfully enabled seafood industry sectors to respond in a coordinated and professional manner to technical trade and market access impediments that arise, especially in relation to food safety and hygiene. It provides industry and government departments with access to technical and scientific capability to manage known risks and assists to identify and address new risks and market access barriers that emerge. 
 
Over the past three years (2018-2021) SafeFish has delivered robust food safety research and advice to industry and regulators to underpin Australia’s reputation as a producer of safe seafood, and by maintaining and enhancing the capabilities of SafeFish to provide that research and advice in a cost effective, efficient and timely manner. The increased support from the seafood industry to continue to fund SafeFish for a further three years is testament to the success of this project, and the need for such work in Australia. 
 

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PROJECT STATUS:
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ORGANISATION:
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC)