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Imported foods

Foods imported for sale in Australia must comply with the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code). All imported foods must also comply with strict biosecurity requirements. Food importers are responsible for ensuring that all food they import complies with the relevant standards in the Code.

For all foods on sale in Australia, whether locally produced or imported, state and territory departments and agencies are responsible for enforcing the Code. Complaints about potentially non-compliant food, including imported food, can be directed to your relevant state or territory enforcement agency.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) administers a risk-based border inspection program - the Imported Food Inspection Scheme - to ensure that food importers only import food that is safe and compliant with the Code.  Please see Importing food into Australia on the DAFF website for more information.

As is the case with all countries, it is not practical to inspect every food item imported into Australia. FSANZ provides DAFF with advice on which foods pose a medium or high risk to public health and safety. This advice helps DAFF determine which foods are regularly inspected.

Taking an evidence-based approach to determine food safety risks, our risk advice to DAFF is prepared using  food and hazard pairing: e.g., bivalve molluscs and norovirus. Our imported food risk assessment document provides further details on how this risk assessment advice is prepared, including the types of information and data considered and the methodology used to determine the level of risk.

Completed imported food risk statements

Food Microorganism / analyte / contaminant Is it medium to high risk? Date of assessment​(latest update)
​Bean curd - fresh and preserved products from soy milk Bacillus cereus (PDF 57 kb) ​No ​November 2016
​​Beef - fresh raw beef and beef products Campylobacter jejuni/coli (PDF 451 kb) ​No ​September 2017 ​ ​
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 488 kb ​Yes September 2017
  Escherichia coli Shiga toxin-producing (PDF 414 kb) ​Yes September 2017
​Berries - dried, ready-to-eat ​Hepatitis A virus​ (PDF 267​​ kb) ​Yes July 2021
​Berries – fresh and frozen, ready-to-eat ​Hepatitis A virus​ (PDF 266 kb) ​Yes

 

June 2021​

Bivalve molluscs Azaspiracid-group toxins (PDF 778 kb) ​No ​January 2021 ​ ​
  Brevetoxin-group toxins (PDF 731 kb) No January 2021 ​ ​
  Okadaic acid-group toxins (PDF 786 kb) No January 2021 ​ ​
  Hepatitis A virus (PDF 214 kb) Yes ​July 2017 ​
  Norovirus (PDF 207 kb) Yes July 2017 ​
  Domoic acid (PDF 271 kb) Yes June 2021​
  Saxitoxin-group toxins  (PDF 268 kb) Yes June 2021​
​Bivalve molluscs - ready-to-eat processed Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 596 kb) ​Yes ​November 2016
​Brown seaweed of the Phaeophyceae class ​Iodine (PDF 629 kb) ​Yes ​March 2016
Caffeine - pure and highly concentrated caffeine products ​​Caffeine (PDF 504 kb) ​Yes ​March 2020
​Cassava chips - ready-to-eat ​Hydrocyanic acid  (PDF 542 kb) ​Yes ​March 2016
​Cheese (production includes a heat treatment step) ​ ​ ​ ​ Brucella spp. (PDF 545 kb) ​No ​July 2015 ​ ​ ​ ​
  Mycobacterium bovis  (PDF 544 kb) No July 2015 ​ ​ ​
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 551 kb) No July 2015 ​ ​ ​
  Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (PDF 554 kb) No July 2015 ​ ​ ​
  Staphylococcal enterotoxin (PDF 553 kb) No July 2015 ​ ​ ​
​Cheese (production includes a heat treatment step) in which growth of Listeria monocytogenes can occur Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 595 kb) ​Yes ​July 2015
​Cheese (production includes a heat treatment step) in which growth of Listeria monocytogenes will not occur Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 595 kb) ​No ​July 2015
​Cheese - raw milk ​ ​ ​ ​ Brucella spp. ​Yes ​July 2015 ​ ​ ​ ​
  Mycobacterium bovis (PDF 545 kb) Yes July 2015 ​ ​ ​ ​
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 545 kb) Yes July 2015 ​ ​ ​ ​
  Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (PDF 545 kb) Yes July 2015 ​ ​ ​ ​
  Staphylococcal enterotoxin (PDF 545 kb) No July 2015 ​ ​ ​ ​
Cheese - raw milk cheese in which growth of Listeria monocytogenes will not occur Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 545 kb) ​No ​July 2015
Coconut - dried Salmonella spp. (PDF 504 kb) ​No ​November 2016
​Crustaceans - ready-to-eat cooked ​ Salmonella spp. (PDF 512 kb) ​No ​November 2016 ​
  Staphylococcal enterotoxin (PDF 510 kb) No November 2016
​Crustaceans - ready-to-eat cooked crustaceans in which growth of Listeria monocytogenes can occur Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 721 kb) ​Yes ​March 2020
​Crustaceans - ready-to-eat cooked crustaceans in which growth of ​ Listeria ​monocytogenes will not occur ​Listeria monocytogenes ​(PDF 721 kb) ​No ​March 2020
​Dates - ready-to-eat, fresh, chilled, frozen, pitted and non-pitted  Hepatitis A virus (HAV) (PDF 409KB) ​Yes ​September 2023
  Salmonella spp. (​PDF 428 kb) No September 2023
Enoki mushrooms Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 373K kb) Yes March 2024
​Finfish - processed ready-to-eat Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 472 kb) Yes ​March 2016
Fish and fish products ​Histamine (PDF 84 kb) ​Yes June 2016​
​Goji berries ​Agricultural chemicals (PDF 472 kb) ​No ​September 2015
​Ham - uncooked slow dry cured ready-to-eat ham ​ ​ ​ Listeria monocytogenes (PDF kb) ​No ​March 20​16 ​ ​ ​
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 558 kb) No March 20​16 ​ ​ ​
  Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (PDF 467 kb) No March 20​16 ​ ​ ​
  Staphylococcal enterotoxin (PDF 556 kb) No March 20​16 ​ ​ ​

​Kava (Piper methysticum) ​

 

Kava (PDF - 828 kb) ​ ​Yes ​March 2022
​Marinara mix ​- composite product, not ready-to-eat ​

Salmonella spp. (PDF 514 kb)

 

​No ​November 2016 ​ ​
 

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (PDF 549 kb)

 

No November 2016 ​ ​
 

Staphylococcal enterotoxin (PDF 557 kb)

 

No November 2016 ​ ​
​Meat - ready-to-eat cooked and processed meat products ​ ​ ​ Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 459 kb) ​Yes ​June 2016 ​ ​ ​
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 425 kb) No June 2016 ​ ​
  Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (PDF 564 kb) No June 2016 ​ ​
  Staphylococcal enterotoxin (PDF 517 kb) No June 2016 ​ ​
​Meat - ready-to-eat cooked pig meat ​Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (PDF 182 kb) ​No ​August 2014
​Meat - uncooked ready-to-eat dried meat ​ ​ ​ Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 184 kb) ​No ​August 2014 ​ ​ ​
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 151 kb) Yes August 2014 ​ ​ ​
  Escherichia coli Shiga toxin-producing (PDF 182 kb) Yes August 2014 ​ ​ ​
  Staphylococcal enterotoxin (PDF 196 kb) No August 2014 ​ ​ ​
​Melons - whole Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 347 kb) ​Yes ​March 2023
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 366 kb) Yes March 2023
​​Melons - cut, ready-to-eat ​Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 375 kb) ​Yes ​March 2023​
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 366 kb) Yes March 2023​
​​Milk - human milk and human milk products ​30 different hazards assessed ​Yes for 15 of the hazards ​​October 2019
​Paprika and pepper - dried Salmonella spp. (PDF 509 kb) ​​Yes ​November 2016
​Peanuts/pistachios - in-shelled, shelled, raw, blanched, roasted, ground nuts and nut products ​Aflatoxins (PDF 423 kb) ​Yes ​June 2016
​Pomegranate arils - dried, ready-to-eat ​Hepatitis A virus (PDF 243 kb) ​​​Yes ​July 2021
Pomegranate arils – fresh and frozen, ready-to-eat​ ​ ​​Hepatitis A virus (PDF 246 kb) ​Yes ​June 2021
Poultry meat - cooked Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 711 kb) Yes September 2019
​Poultry pâté and livers ​- ready-to-eat cooked  Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 184 kb) ​Yes ​August 2014 ​
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 178 kb) ​No August 2014 ​
​Prawns and shrimp - ready-to-eat cooked ​ ​​ Aeromonas spp. (PDF 515 kb) ​No ​November 2016 ​ ​
  Vibrio cholerae (PDF 514 kb) Yes  
  Vibrio parahaemolyticus (PDF 520 kb) No  
​Pufferfish (fugu) - whole or portions, fresh, frozen, dried or canned Tetrodotoxin (PDF 631 kb) ​Yes ​June 2022
​Sesame seeds and sesame seed products - ready-to-eat Salmonella spp. (PDF 510 kb) ​Yes ​November 2016
Sausages - uncooked ready-to-eat sausages​ Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 184 kb) No August 2014
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 180 kb) Yes August 2014
  Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (PDF 160 kb) Yes August 2014
  Staphylococcal enterotoxin (PDF 177 kb) No August 2014
​​Sausages - uncooked ready-to-eat spreadable sausages Listeria monocytogenes (PDF 183 kb) ​Yes ​August 2014​
  Salmonella spp. (PDF 177 kb) Yes August 2014​
  Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (PDF 156 kb) Yes August 2014​
  Staphylococcal enterotoxin (PDF 174 kb) Yes August 2014​
​Seaweed - hijiki ​Inorganic arsenic (PDF 458 kb) ​Yes ​June 2016
​Supplementary sports foods ​ ​​Higenamine (PDF 603 kb) ​​Yes ​December 2021
  Octopamine (PDF 600 kb) Yes July 2020​

This table will be updated as new assessments are finalised and provided to DAFF.

Page last updated 11 April 2024