Submitted to the Queensland Department of Primary Industries on the 24th April 2026.
Queensland has a strong record of food safety, and the Agroecology & Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) is committed to maintaining and strengthening this track record. However, AFSA highlights the disproportionate compliance burden placed on small- and medium-scale food producers under the Food Production (Safety) Act 2000 (QLD). Many AFSA members in Queensland sell directly to end consumers through farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture, and farm gate sales. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) asserts that ‘States shall stimulate sustainable production, including agroecological production, whenever possible, and facilitate direct farmer-to-consumer sales.’
Queensland’s food safety and regulatory systems are overdue for reform that genuinely reflects the realities of our state’s diverse food system. The current framework remains largely designed for industrial-scale production and globalised supply chains, rather than for the small- and medium-scale Queensland farmers and producers who feed local communities through short, transparent supply chains. As a result, regulation often fails to address the diverse risks to public health—such as the proliferation of toxic and ultra-processed foods—while imposing disproportionate burdens on low-risk, small-scale producers. For example, the duplication of regulatory oversight under Safe Food Production Queensland and local government authorities, as well as the absence of meaningful engagement with smallholders and civil society, means the system prioritises bureaucratic compliance over addressing genuine food safety issues and community wellbeing. The current review of the Food Production (Safety) Act 2000 (QLD) provides an opportunity to reorient food regulation towards scale-appropriate, risk-based, and participatory approaches that uphold the health of people, animals, and the environment alike.
