GS1 Case study: On Pack Label Database

New Zealand Food Safety, a business unit of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), ensures systems are in place to support businesses to make safe and suitable food. They require access to an extensive database of label information for packaged food available for sale in New Zealand so they partnered with GS1 New Zealand to provide this solution.

Issue

New Zealand Food Safety needs to access current label information, including the ingredient and nutrient information, for packaged foods within the New Zealand food supply chain. This provides critical information to inform decision making for the development and monitoring of food policy and food standards as well as to conduct preliminary risk assessments and inform food survey sampling plans.

Solution

GS1 and MPI have been working together since March 2019. GS1’s On Pack Data Collection service provides New Zealand Food Safety with a strong representation of the current food supply, which helps them to monitor trends over time and to determine the extent to which issues may affect manufacturers and/or consumers.

Future

Looking to the future, GS1 seeks to strengthen the relationship and is building additional features in response to the needs of New Zealand Food Safety and the food market. These future developments will include the ability to effectively analyse changes in the New Zealand food supply.