Alerts

The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (the department) has published a Risk Background describing the threats to Australia’s biosecurity status when imported goods are repurposed for animal feed use. The concepts of human food safety and animal biosecurity are explained in the document, as well as the consequences of the incursion of an exotic animal disease, foot-and-mouth disease virus, into Australia’s animal populations.

Who does this alert affect:

• importers (and their customs brokers), traders and suppliers who import biological goods into Australia
• processors that manufacture products in Australia using imported biological goods
• department staff.

Background:
The way that goods are used once they are imported into Australia is relevant to the level of biosecurity risk associated with those goods.

Goods imported for human consumption or pet food use cannot be fed to Australian livestock unless the department has authorised this end use as part of the biosecurity import conditions for the specific goods. Stock feed presents a high level of biosecurity risk due to its direct pathway to livestock.

Further information:
Please contact the Animal and Biological Imports Branch on 1800 900 090 or email imports@agriculture.gov.au.