Horticulture safety standards to mirror seafood guidelines

A new horticulture safety standard will be put in place after more than 250 reported cases of food poisoning from fresh fruit and vegetables in the last year. Although the industry is already widely regulated, Food Standards Australia and New Zealand will introduce formal guidelines similar to those used for seafood. Richard Bennet from Horticulture Australia says the industry has organised a food safety summit this month with growers and processors keen to improve standards. "We're at risk, we have a generic product and if there's an issue with a particular type of fresh produce then it won't be necessarily that sole producer that suffers, it will be the entire industry," he said.