S23 - Session O7 - Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia-New Zealand delivers innovation and outreach through co-design with industry

Authors: Robyn McConchie *, Emma Walters, Michael Worthington

The Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia & New Zealand (FPSC), is an industry-led, not-for-profit company established in 2014, founded by the PMA A-NZ and the University of Sydney, and supported by produce businesses. The FPSC's purpose is to disseminate relevant information and provide thought-leadership in fresh produce food safety that will empower organisations and companies in Australia and New Zealand to strive towards a reduction in food safety incidences. Its activities augment the requirements of food safety schemes, such as Freshcare and NZGAP, and provide information and outreach to businesses not covered by a food safety scheme. The work of the FPSC continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, and through co-design with industry, has provided tangible benefits to the fresh produce industry. Over 2020-2021, FPSC investigated topics with the potential to transform the fresh produce food safety landscape in Australia and New Zealand, through the FPSC's 2025 Innovation Agenda, under which it produced a research report, using a voluntary industry-based working group, on innovation in the audit process, and another on rapid diagnostic methods for the detection of foodborne pathogens. FPSC produced outreach materials including fact sheets on food defence; food safety culture; risks from pre-harvest water; risks from manures; and the impact of animals on food safety in fresh produce. It conducted online events for industry and researchers. FPSC maintains the Guidelines for Fresh Produce Food Safety, used by Australian and New Zealand-based food safety schemes to establish minimum standards for fresh produce food safety in Oceania. FPSC, working through a industry and academic technical group, is revising the section of these Guidelines on the exclusion periods between the application of raw manure and harvest. This presentation reports on the activities of the FPSC during the COVID-19 pandemic, outlines the tangible benefits to industry and the industry co-design processes employed.