Meeting your obligations under the Wine Act

The way wine is produced for international and local markets is undergoing change with the new standards under the Wine Act coming into force later this year.

From 1st December 2008, the current export winemaker audit will be replaced with a new verification system that will encompass both export requirements and Wine Standards Management Plans (WSMP).

According to the New Zealand Food Safety Authority this move to further regulate the wine industry in New Zealand will have long term advantages in protecting public health and enhancing the integrity of the New Zealand wine industry both domestically and internationally.
All wine manufacturers producing over 10,000 litres will be required to submit their management plans to the NZFSA for registration by 1 September 2008 to ensure they meet the legislative deadline.

AsureQuality Food Industry Manager Ian Shaw says it’s important for winemakers to have confidence that they are dealing with an organization that has a high degree of integrity in the assurance processes under the new regime.

Mr Shaw says winemakers can have comfort in knowing that AsureQuality is an internationally recognised third party auditing body and is totally versed with the new industry and regulatory requirements coming into force.

“We are here to make the process as simple and painless as possible for winemakers producing over 10,000 litres of product. We have a long association with the wine industry and we are keen to build relationships with winemakers so that they feel confident that their obligations under the Wine Act will be met.”

Asure Quality is the Southern Hemisphere’s leading supplier of inspection, verification, testing and certification services across the food supply chain.

“With our extensive suite of accreditations we can also offer further services for those wine companies that are serious about exporting or intending to export their products offshore,” Mr Shaw added.

Services AsureQuality can offer the wine industry include laboratory testing, third party audits and training to international standards such as BRC – British Retail Consortium, ISO22000, SQF, Organics, IS09001 and ISO14001. AsureQuality is also an approved audit body for  Landcare’s carboNZero® programme.

“We also provide third party auditing for HACCP food safety programmes, and expert training in quality management, food safety, health and safety, development of Food Safety programmes and the Licence Controller Qualification (LCQ) for general managers for the sale and supply of liquor,” said Mr Shaw.

“All of these auditing processes don’t necessarily have to be adopted in the short term unless it’s a customer requirement, but the advantages long term are significant for those players in the wine industry that wish to gain an outstanding international reputation not only to do with quality of the wine they produce but the safety and quality assurance processes they have in place.

We have a team of auditors that have a wide exposure to the wine industry and have experience in assessing across the food chain which includes the retail sector and its suppliers. We understand the requirements to be met by the wine industry and we provide audits that give value to every aspect of the wine production process and indeed a wine company’s overall business.

The WSMP document clearly demonstrates how a winemaker’s operations will meet their obligations under the Wine Act 2003 in terms of compliance with food safety, traceability, composition and labelling requirements.

The NZFSA is the principal regulator under the Wine Act, with responsibility for its implementation. The WSMP will be developed and implemented by the winemaker and needs to be approved by the independent verifier named in the plan.

All Wine Act verification activities must be undertaken by persons who are ‘recognised’ under the Wine Act. AsureQuality understands the need for consistency and expert verification.

Mr Shaw is urging those winemakers keen to meet the new criteria to remember that whilst the new legislation doesn’t come in to force until December, they only have until the first of September 2008 to register their Wine Standards Management Plans.