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Department of Agriculture

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Biosecurity and trade
  3. Import
  4. Importing goods
  5. Food
  6. food type
  7. Importing from New Zealand

Sidebar first - Import

  • Import requirements by food type
    • Importing food from New Zealand
    • Pure and highly concentrated caffeine products
    • Cereal grains and cereal products
    • Coconut and coconut meat
    • Coconut milk drinks
    • Cheese
    • Dried milk
    • Raw milk cheese
    • Fruits and vegetables
    • Berries
    • Pomegranate arils
    • Hemp seeds and oil
    • Dried herbs
    • Paprika and pepper
    • Honey
    • Human milk and human milk products
    • Powdered infant formula
    • Kava
    • Beef and beef products
    • Processed meat - cooked
    • Meat and edible offal
    • Cooked poultry meat
    • Cooked poultry pate, paste and liver
    • Raw beef and beef products
    • Processed meat - uncooked
    • Uncooked slow dry cured ham
    • Peanuts and pistachios
    • Sesame seeds and sesame seed products
    • Edible plant oil
    • Cassava chips
    • Tofu, soy bean curd, soy milk curd
    • Mini jelly cups containing konjac
    • Prohibited plants and fungi
    • Bivalve molluscs
    • Cooked crustaceans
    • Fish and crustaceans - aquaculture
    • Histamine susceptible fish
    • Processed finfish
    • Brown seaweed
    • Supplementary sports food

Importing food from New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand have joint food standards and recognise each other’s food safety standards and import control systems. This allows food to be imported between the countries without border inspection.

Under the Imported Food Control Act 1992, food imported from New Zealand is exempted, except for some food classified as risk food. This exemption recognises the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Arrangement (TTMRA). In 1996, the governments of Australia and New Zealand agreed that goods that can be legally sold in one country can be legally sold in the other country.

Food imported from New Zealand must still meet our biosecurity requirements. Check the Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON) for biosecurity import conditions.

Inspecting and testing

Most imported food from New Zealand is exempt from inspection and testing under the Imported Food Inspection Scheme.

The only food imported from New Zealand that we inspect is:

  • beef
  • beef products
  • ready-to-eat cassava chips
  • brown seaweed
  • food trans-shipped through New Zealand (product is not 'cleared' for sale in New Zealand).

Food imports exempt from testing

To be exempt from inspection, food imported from New Zealand must:

  • be grown, harvested and produced in or imported into New Zealand
  • comply with New Zealand food laws
  • be labelled at the point of sale with the importers name and business address in Australia or New Zealand.

Mutual recognition

The TTMRA is a non-Treaty arrangement between the:

  • Australian Government
  • Australian state and territory governments
  • New Zealand Government

Under the TTMRA, governments in Australia and New Zealand have agreed that goods that can be legally sold in New Zealand can also be sold in Australia, and vice versa. The principles of this arrangement have been enacted through the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997.

The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources manages the TTMRA.

Contacts

Call 1800 900 090

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Last updated: 28 January 2022

© Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.