The Dairysafe Annual Report for 2023-2024 was provided to Hon Clare Scriven MP, Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, by Roseanne Healy, Chair of Dairysafe, on 30 September.
This annual report is presented to parliament to meet Dairysafe’s legislative requirements.
In partnership with the dairy industry and SA Health, our primary responsibilities in protecting public health and safety are through the safe supply of dairy products to customers. Our vision is for customers to have retained confidence in the dairy industry
We achieved strong results in 2023-24 by engaging productively with our state dairy and supply chain businesses, focusing on our priorities and upholding our organisational values.
Significantly, with 300 audits physically undertaken by Dairysafe, South Australia maintained a premium ranking for quality and safety benchmarks. We recorded nil foodborne illnesses, nil trade withdrawals or consumer-level recalls, nil antibiotic residue, and nil pathogens at retail level, across the supply chains.
It was noted however that 52 major non-conformance issues and 4 minor non-conformance issues were identified and professionally resolved in the audit cycle. Timely and professional management of food safety incidents was also undertaken, involving 44 notifiable contaminants, with nil negative outcomes.
Dairysafe delivers all audit and verification services for the South Australian dairy industry including dairy export audits
To maintain this high standard of safe and high-quality products in the supply chain, Dairysafe has maintained its mission to inspire a food safety culture in the dairy supply chain through the development of an online training course, industry forums and the Dairysafe Food Safety Culture Award, awarded at the SA Dairy Industry Awards.
Our industry monitoring identified the South Australian dairy sector produced 484 million litres of milk from 170 dairy farms during 2023-2024, an increase of volume of 1.6% on 2022-2023 production.
In this same period, dairy cow farm number decreased by 6.5% from 182 to around 170, while the dairy herd decreased by 2.8% to around 64,430. Additionally, the number of accredited dairy processors reduced from 45 to 43, and accredited milk transporters reduced from 10 to 8.
The Dairysafe Annual Report will be shared with stakeholders following its tabling in parliament.