New MPI Food Safety Templates Drop: What You Need to Know

Your quick guide to MPI's August 2025 food safety template changes

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has just dropped an update to the official Food Control Plan (FCP) templates for food service and retail businesses. If you run a café, restaurant, butcher, bakery, or even a fishmonger, this affects you.

What’s changed?

The new Food Notice (14 August 2025) revokes the old 2023 version and brings in fresh and updated templates under section 39 of the Food Act. The biggest update?

• A brand-new “Making biltong” card from page 142 onwards (biltong finally gets its own spotlight)
• Changes to a bunch of existing cards, including:
  • Using acid to control bugs
  • Managing self-supply water
  • Hot-smoking to control bugs
  • Sourcing, receiving & storing food
  • Chinese-style roast duck
  • Checking your plan is working well

Deadline alert

If you’re using any of the above templates in your FCP or you make biltong, you’ve got until 30 April 2026 to update your FCP with the latest cards. That gives you a decent buffer, but don’t leave it until the last minute (your verifier won’t thank you for it).

Who needs to pay attention?

Basically anyone serving or selling food that falls under the Food Act’s Schedule 1, Part 3:

• Food retailers: butchers, bakeries, fishmongers, delis
• Food service: cafés, bars, restaurants, caterers, school canteens, aged care kitchens

If you’re in these categories, you must run on a registered FCP. You can:

• Use MPI’s official template
• Build your own custom plan (but you’ll need MPI approval)
• Use an industry or third-party template approved by MPI

Why it matters

The updated templates are designed to:

• Keep food safe and suitable for sale
• Maintain trust in NZ’s food safety system
• Give businesses clear, practical steps to manage risks

The cards cover everything from hygiene to allergens, hot-smoking to sushi-making. Think of them as your food safety playbook, but written so you don’t need a law degree to follow them.

What you need to do now

• Check if you currently use any of the above templates or make biltong. If you do, you'll need to:
  • Update your plan with the new/updated cards
  • Register your updated FCP with your local council (or MPI if you’ve got sites across multiple districts)
  • Update your Chomp Management Dashboard with your new FCP template
  • Keep records, your verifier will want proof you’re following the plan
  • Keep a copy of your updated FCP onsite 

What we're doing

We'll be making some tweaks over the coming weeks to the Acidified Foods template in the Chomp Kitchen app, to make sure that if you're using Chomp, you'll stay fully compliant! 

Resources

You'll find the updated Simply Safe & Suitable Food Control Plan template here.

Handy hint: it's a hefty document, so to find what you need faster:

• Use the clickable titles on the contents pages to skip to the area you want to go to, or;
• Use Control F on your keyboard, type in what you're searching for and hit enter. You can thank us later!

Bottom line

Food safety rules evolve, and MPI’s August 2025 update is all about plugging gaps (hello, biltong) and tightening a few loose ends.

If you’re in food service or retail, make sure your Food Control Plan is up to scratch before April 2026. Do it now, and you’ll save yourself a compliance headache later.