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Case Glossary

Search Import Questions Import Conditions Onshore Outcomes

Case: Retorted goods Effective 22 Sep 2023 to 10 Oct 2023

Glossary

The following provides a definition of words or phrases that are found within the text. Some of these have a special meaning in relation to the importation or treatment of goods entering Australia and may be important to understand in meeting the requirements for import.

Term Definition
Approved Arrangement Site (AA Site)

An arrangement approved under Section 406 of the Biosecurity Act 2015 (Cwlth) which permits a biosecurity industry participant to carry out specified activities to manage biosecurity risks associated with particular goods, premises or other things.
commercially sterile

Commercially sterile means that the vegetative and spore forms of all pathogenic and spoilage organisms that can grow in food under normal storage and handling conditions have been destroyed.
Discernible pieces of egg

Ability to visibly distinguish pieces of egg, including whole egg.

Egg

Egg means egg of a bird.
eggs

See Egg
goods

Goods include:

  1. An animal
  2. A plant
  3. A sample or specimen of a disease agent
  4. A pest
  5. Mail; and
  6. Any other article substance or thing.

Goods does not include ballast water or human remains. It also does not include a conveyance, except in certain circumstances.
hermetically

See hermetically sealed
hermetically sealed

Hermetically-sealed container means a container that is airtight when sealed.
import permit application

The department will assess the application and on the basis of that assessment may decide to grant an import permit subject to any conditions deemed necessary for safe importation, use and disposal of those products.

It should be noted that applying for an import permit does not automatically result in an import permit being issued. The Director of biosecurity or their delegate issues the import permit. You should ensure that an application is submitted for each product type and that the prescribed fee accompanies the import permit application.
meat

Meat means a part of an animal (other than a fish, a mollusc, a crustacean, a cnidarian, an echinoderm or a tunicate) that is intended or able to be used as food by a human being or an animal (whether or not it is cooked, dried or otherwise processed).

Meat includes blood, bone meal, meat meal, tallow and fat.
retorted
  1. Animal products have been retorted if they have been heated in a hermetically sealed container to a minimum core temperature of 100°C, obtaining an F0 value of at least 2.8.
  2. Goods (other than animal products) have been retorted if they have been heated in a hermetically sealed container for a time, and to a temperature, sufficient to make the contents commercially sterile.
Retorting

See retorted
shelf-stable

Goods are shelf‑stable if:

  1. The goods have been commercially manufactured.
  2. The goods have been packaged by the manufacturer.
  3. The goods are in that package.
  4. The package has not been opened or broken.
  5. The goods are able to be stored in the package at room or ambient temperature.
  6. The goods do not require refrigeration or freezing before the package is opened.