The Government is loosening rules for home-based cake makers – promising to make it cheaper and easier for hobby bakers to sell their goods.
Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard and Regulation Minister David Seymour on Thursday announced changes designed to reduce compliance costs and paperwork for “low-risk” businesses.
From November, home-based cake makers will no longer face ongoing verification and will have simpler registration requirements.
“There is no reason low-risk cake makers should have to navigate the same level of red tape and compliance costs as a large commercial bakery, but currently they do,” Hoggard said.
“These changes fix what matters for bakers. They will find it easier and cheaper to operate, opening the door for more people to turn their hobby into a business or an extra income stream.”
Hoggard said bakers needed to register as a business if they sold more than 10 cakes in a year. His wife baked two cakes decorated with red tape for the announcement.
“So if she had have done 11 cakes, then she would have had to go and do registration, although I seriously doubt she would have.”
Asked if it could have meant she would be fined, he said “not unless I wanted a divorce”.
Seymour joked there was “actually quite a severe tax on what she produces, she loses a high proportion of what she produces before it gets out of the household, and that’s actually been one of the things that’s held her back”.
He said the red tape tipline had been “inundated with complaints, we’ve had 24 complaints specifically about the regulations on home based cake makers”.
“There’s nothing more Kiwi than the tradition of bringing a plate selling a cake to raise money for a cause, or selling a cake to your friends, or having one at a farmer’s market that’s been based in your home. And until 11 years ago, there was no regulation, there was no restriction.
“This may not be the number one issue in New Zealand today, but it certainly captures the way that the regulatory state has invaded just about every aspect of life.”
The ministers said the annual food safety audits that were being scrapped could in some cases cost over $1000 a year in council fees and registration costs.
Hoggard said the rules felt at times like they were based on all companies being Fonterra sized, “and it actually stops companies that could be Fonterra-sized getting to Fonterra size”.
Bakers would still need a food plan, and the government was not changing financial audit rules, but would be looking at doing more work on food labelling, including by bringing in QR codes for digital labels instead of requiring completely accurate paper labels for food goods.
Home-based bakers will still need to report food safety issues, participate in Food Safety’s recall process and take part in a free training programme when it becomes available.
Hoggard said the shift would also boost competition and consumer choice, especially in smaller towns.
“Businesses take food safety seriously because they want their customers to come back, and to spread the word. Where we have rules, they should be proportionate to the actual risk.”
Regulation Minister David Seymour said the change came after dozens of complaints to the government’s Red Tape Tipline.
“People shouldn’t be bogged down in compliance for the sake of it. The Red Tape Tipline is giving Kiwis a voice, and it’s working,” Seymour said.
“Dozens of cake makers got in touch to say the current requirements didn’t make sense. The Ministry investigated, agreed, and now we’re fixing it.”
rnz.co.nz
