Case Glossary

Retorted Products

Retorted products are heated in an unopened, hermetically sealed container for a time, and to a temperature beyond 100 °C, sufficient to render the contents commercially sterile. In order to meet the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources requirements, all retorted products must not require freezing or refrigeration in order to maintain quality.

Retorting

Retorting refers to the process of cooking canned food or food in a retort pouch after it has been sealed in the container. The packages either go through a continuous retort (i.e. continually moving conveyor system) or may be cooked in a batch retort (i.e. big sealed pressure cooker). Many different types of food may be canned and retorted e.g. canned fruit and vegetables, canned meals (e.g. Irish stew), canned soups, retort pouches of tuna, etc

Hermetically sealed

A package is hermetically sealed if it is 'airtight' e.g. Heat sealed plastic bag, sealed can or glass jar with screw cap. Hermetically sealed goods may also be heat treated but ‘hermetically sealed’ is not the same as ‘canned’ or ‘retorted’. Many foods are packed in hermetically sealed containers, but do not undergo heat treatments in that package. These foods cannot be treated as retorted foods as they may not be sterile. Examples of such foods are milk powders, Milo and some types of cheeses.

Retort Pouches/Packaging

A retort pouch/package is a lightweight, flexible container or pouch in which foods are heated and sterilised. Retort pouches generally have the following features:

1. Manufactured from laminated polyester, nylon and/or aluminium. The polyester and nylon films usually have a layer of aluminium foil between them; and
2. Material used for manufacture of retort pouches may be thicker than the polyethylene used for vacuum pouches; and
3. Soft and flexible to touch; and
4. Do not require special storage conditions to maintain product quality e.g. refrigeration to maintain food quality prior to opening i.e. are shelf stable.

Vacuum Packaging (eg. Corvac or Cryovac)

Vacuum packaging refers to food that is packaged in heat sealed polyethylene bags, from which the air has been removed prior to sealing. ‘Vacuum packaging’ is not the same as ‘retort packaging’. Features of vacuum packaging include:
1. Generally constructed of transparent nylon or polythene in varying thicknesses (no aluminium foil); and
2. Soft plastic and wrinkled appearance due to the bag clinging to the product as there is no air inside the bag; and
3. Some vacuum packaged foods require special storage conditions to maintain product quality e.g. vacuum packaged meat or fish require refrigeration, i.e. are not shelf stable; and
4. Some vacuum packaged foods do not require special storage conditions to maintain product quality e.g. ground coffee, nuts.

Shelf Stable

Shelf stable refers to food that will last for an extended period of time, packaged or not, without any special storage conditions. For example heat-treated canned/retorted food will last many years on the shelf.

Freshwater prawn and shrimp (e.g. Macrobrachium spp.) are sometimes incorrectly referred to as 'scampi', and should not be confused with the marine clawed lobster (e.g. Metanephrops spp.), also known as scampi. Consignments of freshwater prawn have been incorrectly declared as scampi and importers have not been obtaining an import permit (or having the product tested for WSSV). 'Scampi' is a very generic term, used for different products depending on locality. Therefore, products identified as ‘scampi’ must be further identified by scientific name.

Inspectors are able to differentiate between scampi and freshwater prawn by looking at the claws (or nippers). With scampi, the first pair of legs from the head are the claws, whereas with freshwater prawns, the claws are the second pair of legs. See below for further identifying features.

Freshwater prawns (e.g. Macrobrachium spp.):

Freshwater prawn

1. Dark green in colour when uncooked.
   

2. The general body shape is the same as a prawn, with the dorsal view showing the tail section tapering down to the tail fan.
   

3. The tail fan is not flared when dead.
   

4. Apart from the rostrum, there are very few spikes on the carapace.
   

Marine scampi (e.g. Metanephrops spp.):

Scampi Scampi - top and side

1. Pale yellow/pink in colour when uncooked.
   

2. The general body shape is the same as for crayfish, with the dorsal view of the tail section showing the sides to be parallel all the way to the tail fan.
   

3. The tail fan is flared even when dead.
   

4. The carapace generally has many spikes.
   

Goods include:

1. An animal.

2. A plant.

3. Any other article, substance or thing (including, but not limited to, any kind of moveable property); and, to avoid doubt, includes mail of any kind and ballast water.

The import conditions which have been provided for "human consumption" cases in BICON have been developed to mitigate the potential biosecurity risks associated with the import of goods for human consumption only.

These import conditions will not appropriately mitigate the increased biosecurity risk associated with feeding (or in any way exposing) animal derived materials to animals. As such, goods imported under human consumption cases may not be fed (or exposed) to animals.

Goods intended for animal use must meet the import conditions provided under the appropriate case e.g. 'Pet food', 'Stock feed including supplements' and 'Aquaculture including pet fish food'.

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.

The Imported Food Control legislation does not apply to food that has been taken to be imported for private consumption:

1. Up to 10 kilograms of solid food, or
   

2. Up to 10 litres of liquid food, or
   

3. Up to 2 litres of concentrated liquid food, or
   

4. Up to 2 kilograms of dried food, or
   

5. Up to 1 kilogram of spices
   

'Krill' is a generic term for shrimp-like planktonic crustaceans (euphausids). These are not prawns.

The following is a list of all currently identified species of krill:

Euphausia brevis
Euphausia crystallorophias (Ice krill)
Euphausia frigida
Euphausia krohni
Euphausia longirostris
Euphausia lucens
Euphausia pacifica
Euphausia similis
Euphausia superba (Antarctic krill)
Euphausia tricantha
Euphausia vallentini
Meganyctiphanes norvegica
Nematobrachion boopis
Nematobrachion flexipes
Nematoscelis difficilis
Nematoscelis megalops
Nyctiphanes australis
Nyctiphanes capensis
Nyctiphanes couchii
Nyctiphanes simplex
Pseudeuphausia latifrons
Stylocheiron abbreviatum
Stylocheiron affine
Stylocheiron carinatum
Stylocheiron elongatum
Stylocheiron longicorne
Stylocheiron longirostris
Stylocheiron maximum
Stylocheiron suhmii
Tessarabrachion oculatum
Thysanoessa gregaria
Thysanoessa inermis
Thysanoessa longipes
Thysanoessa macrura
Thysanopoda obtusifrons