One of Victoria's leading Victorian food writers Richard Cornish has accused the state's meat, poultry and seafood safety regulator of decades of "destroying" the state's food diversity..
Mr Cornish said PrimeSafe was "hell bent" on stopping small business.
"Victoria could lead Australia in quality preserved meats, instead we lag behind because of this draconian government regulatory body," Mr Cornish said.
"Victoria has all the means of becoming an artisan salami and charcuterie powerhouse except the policy settings in Victoria are wrong.
"We have got the animals, we have got the farmers, we have a huge population of chefs and trained people, we have a strong history - some of the biggest producers in Australia come from Victoria."
The bottleneck in making more smallgoods was the culture of fear, perpetuated throughout Victoria, by the strong-arm tactics of PrimeSafe, he said.
Read more: PrimeSafe again under fire over regulations
The Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions needed to liaise with Agriculture Victoria to work on less onerous guidelines, for the development of small, independent meatworks and on smallgoods manufacturers.
"PrimeSafe enforces the act, but it's their interpretation of the Act that goes," Mr Cornish said.
"They will use the word wholesome, when judging a product as fit for human consumption, but there is no definition of wholesome."
He called food safety regulation for small processors to be taken out of PrimeSafe's hands and given to councils.
Provenir mobile abattoir chief executive Chris Balazs said initially, PrimeSafe blocked the licencing of the company's mobile abattoir in Victoria, saying legislation prohibited using a vehicle for both the slaughter of animals and transport of meat.
By comparison, the NSW food regulator licenced Provenir to work within that state within a few months, he sai.
Legislation was eventually changed, clearing the way for a Victorian licence.
"Why do we have such dramatically different regulatory requirements, in the meat industry, between Victoria and NSW " Mr Balazs said.
"In Victoria we are audited four times a year, NSW we are audited once a year.
"Each Victorian audit costs more than $1000 - when you add that up it costs us almost 10 times as much in regulatory compliance costs in Victoria, than it does in NSW."
PrimeSafe was Australia's only regulator which was independent from the government, he said
"They don't write the laws, they enforce them - we have no problems with meeting the laws, but some of them need to look at scale appropriate operations."
"The corporate requirements for a large business are a lot different from those regarded as a small to medium business."
Bruce Burton, who used to produce Sommerlad meat chickens at Milking Yard Farm, Trentham, said he ran into problems with his abattoir, who told him they could no longer let him use their boning room.
Mr Burton, and wife Roz, then sought advice from other small-scale producers but was told he'd have to build his own abattoir, boning room and butcher's shop, which would cost around $500,000.
Mr Burton said he'd heard horror stories about small producers who had faced an "onerous" regulatory compliance burden, imposed by PrimeSafe.
The regulator was described as "draconian and heavy-handed", applying the regulations without regard to the size of the business, he said.
As a result, he shut up shop.
"The combination of building our own abattoir, boning room and value-adding facilities, then getting it commissioned, really meant that for someone at my age and stage the risks were simply too high to justify the investment," he said.
Mr Burton said the risks involved included getting planning permits, having the facility licenced by PrimeSafe and having to comply, and pay for, regulations and an audit regime, which was not appropriate for the size of the operation.
"The unit cost of compliance, for the birds we would deliver was much greater than it needed to be," he said.
A PrimeSafe spokeswoman said it was proud of the strong food safety record, which underpinned consumer confidence in, and the success and reputation of, Victoria's food, agriculture and aquaculture sectors.
"The requirements of the relevant Australian Food Safety Standards are the same for all licence applicants - irrespective of size - as the risk to human health remains the same," the spokeswoman said.
"All businesses must adhere to Primesafe's regulatory requirements, as well as others, such as statutory planning requirements assessed by local government and environmental management requirements governed by EPA."
PrimeSafe worked closely with licencees and prospective licencees of all size and types to promote and grow benefits of adopting a strong food safety culture, and to help them meet the Food Safety Standards to produce meat, poultry and seafood that is safe for human consumption.
The spokeswoman said the Information and Support Services team now provided dedicated and individual information to prospective licensees and in 2021-22 responded to more than 2,000 enquiries.
"This includes supporting existing licensees who wish to alter their manufacturing or product range to address food safety risk," she sad.
"PrimeSafe operates on a full cost-recovery basis and receives no government funding to support operational or regulatory functions."
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
