1Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code – Schedule 19 – Maximum levels of contaminants and natural toxicants

Schedule 19 Maximum levels of contaminants and natural toxicants

Note 1 This instrument is a standard under the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 (Cth). The standards together make up the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. See also section 1.1.1—3.

Maximum levels of contaminants and natural toxicants are regulated by subsection 1.1.1—10(6) and Standard 1.4.1. This Standard lists contaminants and natural toxicants for food for subsection 1.4.1—3(1), and sets out the requirements for and method of calculating the level of mercury in fish for subsection 1.4.1—3(2).

Note 2 The provisions of the Code that apply in New Zealand are incorporated in, or adopted under, the Food Act 2014 (NZ). See also section 1.1.1—3.

S19—1 Name

This Standard is Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code – Schedule 19 – Maximum levels of contaminants and natural toxicants.

Note Commencement:
This Standard commences on 1 March 2016, being the date specified as the commencement date in notices in the Gazette and the New Zealand Gazette under section 92 of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 (Cth). See also section 93 of that Act.

S19—2 Definitions

In this Schedule:

arsenic is taken to be a metal.

ergot means the sclerotium or dormant winter form of the fungus Claviceps purpurea.

honey includes comb honey.

hydrocyanic acid, total means all hydrocyanic acid including hydrocyanic acid evolved from cyanogenic glycosides and cyanohydrins during or following enzyme hydrolysis or acid hydrolysis.

MU means the unit of measurement for neurotoxic shellfish poisons described in Recommended procedures for examination of seawater and shellfish, Irwin N. (ed) fourth edition, American Public Health Association Inc.

ready-to-eat cassava chips means the product made from sweet cassava that is represented as ready for immediate consumption with no further preparation required, and includes crisps, crackers and ‘vege’ crackers.

Note In this Code (see section 1.1.2—3):

honey means the natural sweet substance produced by honey bees from the nectar of blossoms or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which honey bees collect, transform and combine with specific substances of their own, store and leave in the honey comb to ripen and mature.

S19—3 Calculating levels of contaminants and toxicants

(1) In this Schedule:

(a) a reference to a metal is taken to include a reference to each chemical species of that metal; and

(b) for a food for which only a portion is ordinarily consumed—a reference to the food is taken to be a reference to that portion; and