Abstract

The purpose of this brief paper is to review the background and pre-existing policies/activity related to food safety and provide options for the Australian government to prevent and respond to any significant outbreaks of infections or poisoning related to local and imported foods. There are three aspects of recommendations provided for the Australian government to prevent and respond to food safety issues: aligning the three principles with food safety governance, food risk reduction measures, and data collection and analysis of socioeconomic status of population. The proposed options mainly focus on the prevention of significant outbreaks of significant infections and poisoning related to local and imported food. Even though there are both advantages and disadvantages of each aspect of options, the three aspects of options are still all recommended for the minister.