New Zealand Food Safety have announced that from 1st July 2025 a food business levy must be paid by registered businesses operating under a food control plan or national programme, and registered food importers.
It will fund core services provided by New Zealand Food Safety, that directly benefit food businesses, including:
- developing new and improving existing food safety rules, standards and templates, ensuring they are effective, reasonable and easy to understand
- collating and analysing information on food businesses and domestically produced food to identify areas of systemic non-compliance and opportunities for improvement
- developing and delivering guidance, education, and support for food businesses, to help them understand the rules and standards and improve food safety compliance
- supporting verification agencies through national performance standards, enhanced training materials and continuous professional development
- supporting territorial authorities through the establishment of national performance standards, training and guidance
- continued audit and review of how the overall food safety system is performing.
Food businesses are the primary users and beneficiaries of these services. Government policy is to recover the cost of this work directly from food business operators.
Levies for food businesses come into effect from 1 July 2025. For businesses registered through a territorial authority, the levy will be collected by the territorial authority on behalf of MPI. A collection fee may be added by the territorial authority. For businesses registered with MPI, the levy will be collected by MPI.
You can learn more about the levy, and associated costs here.
