April 18, 2024 Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) proposed to revise its biosafety recommendations for imported dairy products, with a comment period ending June 17, 2024. Key elements:

(1) Addition of assessment of foot-and-mouth disease risk, sheep pox virus and goat pox virus risk;

(2) Minimum requirements. Milk is sourced only from healthy animals; the establishment has implemented a written quality assurance program (e.g., a food safety program) for the production, collection, transportation, and processing of dairy products; all facilities involved in production (except for labeling and storage) are registered, approved, or accredited in accordance with the requirements of the relevant national food safety agency; and, during processing, one of the following heat treatments must be applied to the milk or dairy product components: pasteurization at a temperature of not less than 72°C and held at that temperature for not less than 15 seconds, or pasteurized at a temperature of not less than 63°C and held for not less than 30 minutes, or at a temperature of not less than 132°C and held at that temperature for not less than 1 second, and the milk or dairy product ingredient is subjected to an alternative heat treatment equivalent to the pasteurization of the milk as specified on the Australian import permit;

(3) Pathogen-specific animal biosecurity measures (removal of the tuberous dermatosis virus component); minimum required managed pathogens (addition of tuberous dermatosis virus).