Food Safety Rules
A guided tool that helps New Zealand food businesses work out exactly which food safety rules apply to them — from the right plan or programme through to registration and verification.
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The Challenge
Food safety regulation under the Food Act 2014 covers a wide spectrum of businesses — from growers and manufacturers through to importers, exporters, transporters, and retailers. Each path through the regulation depends on what a business does, the risk profile of its products, and where in the supply chain it sits.
For operators trying to do the right thing, that complexity is a barrier. Working out whether a business needs a Food Control Plan, a National Programme (1, 2, or 3), or a template plan — and who registers and verifies them — historically meant reading through dense guidance, calling MPI, or paying a consultant. The Ministry for Primary Industries needed a way to make that decision accessible to anyone, regardless of regulatory literacy.
Our Response
We partnered with MPI to deliver the Food Safety Rules wizard — a step-by-step decision tool that translates the Food Act and its associated regulations into a guided, plain-language conversation.
The wizard asks operators a structured series of questions about their business — what they grow, make, store, transport, import, export, or sell — and uses those answers to surface the right plan or programme, the correct registration authority, the appropriate verifier, and the forms and templates the business needs to get started.
The interface was designed around the operator, not the regulator: short questions, clear language, no jargon where it can be avoided, and an outcome the user can act on without needing a consultant.
The Outcome
Food Safety Rules now serves as the front door to food safety compliance for businesses across Aotearoa — referenced by MPI itself, the Ministry of Education for early learning services, and a range of industry bodies as the canonical starting point for figuring out food safety obligations.
The tool removes a significant friction point for new and existing food businesses, giving operators a clear, authoritative answer in minutes rather than days, and reducing the support burden on MPI's information channels.
Gallery
Food Safety Rules — Landing Page
Food Safety Rules — Stepped Form
The Conclusion
Food Safety Rules is a good example of what regulation-as-a-service can look like when the experience is designed for the people it affects — turning a maze of legislation into a few minutes of guided questions, and giving food businesses confidence that they're starting in the right place.