Australian vets endorse new biosecurity measures on imported pet food 

The new legislation adopted by the Federal Government implements from 31 October 2022 new import conditions for fish and fish products imported into Australia for use as pet food.

“It’s excellent to see new biosecurity measures put in place to control the risk of disease,” said Dr. Bronwyn Orr, President of the AVA. 

From now onwards, regulations establish every consignment will be packed in clean and new packaging and should be free of Biosecurity Risk Material (BRM) before arrival into Australian territory.

The changes in biosecurity measures focus on the current heat treatment that will be reduced to a moist heat treatment of at least 85°C for no less than 25 minutes or an equivalent core temperature agreed by the department. The current restrictions on the percentage of salmonid material contained in fish products (no more than 2%) will no longer apply. 

The other measures, as the only material of non-salmonid origin imported for use as pet food and stock feed, remain unchanged due to the biosecurity risks to achieve the Appropriate Level of Protection (ALOP) standard.

The import conditions for use in fish and fish products in pet food and stock feed will be updated through the country’s Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON).

Limbo situation

The Australian Standard for the Marketing and Manufacture of Pet Foods (AS5812) for pet food is voluntary, and AVA’s president Bronwyn Orr warned about this situation.

“Moving from a voluntary standard to a mandatory one would guarantee that pet food meets a high standard of food safety and traceability,” she said.

The national professional association of veterinarians in Australia believes that all pets in the country should have “access to safe, high-quality food, and if a problem arises, there should be a prompt and regulated recall and investigation.