Dunedin eateries should be cleaner and safer following an overhaul of New Zealand food-safety rules, but could also face "significant" extra costs.
The Food Bill - which will replace existing food-hygiene legislation - is before a parliamentary select committee and expected to become law by July next year.
It would substantially reform New Zealand's food regulations, in part by requiring food outlets to prepare for the first time mandatory food-control plans to ensure hygiene standards were maintained.
The council made a submission supporting the Bill.
Submissions closed on Thursday.
Dunedin City Council environmental health team leader Ros MacGill said owners of food outlets were encouraged through the council's outlet grading system to develop plans and other record-keeping systems.
Higher grades were given to those outlets with the systems in place, but the measures were not yet compulsory, she said.
Council staff visited each outlet at least once each year, but enforcement action came only if hygiene problems were detected, she said.
"Now, we are actually trying to get them to think for themselves, so if there is a problem, they'll actually address it themselves without us having to remind them," Ms MacGill said.
About 120 of the city's 400 outlets requiring a food-control plan were already familiar with the new rules, having been involved in a trial running for the past two years.
The new rules meant the council's environmental health unit, overseeing hygiene standards, would need new operating procedures as well as a review the council's Food Safety Bylaw, new enforcement practices and additional staff training.
The council's aim was to maintain existing costs once the new system was law and avoid passing additional charges on to businesses, she said.
However, council staff had found they were spending more time on initial visits to food outlets, as new systems were introduced, and it was "quite unclear" whether the council would have new responsibilities once the Bill was finalised, she said.
If it did, that could create additional costs - such as the need to employ extra staff - that could be passed on to businesses through council charges, she said.
The Bill was the result of a nationwide increase in incidents of food-borne illness, and a "really progressive" move towards improving food safety, she said.
It would replace the Food Act 1981 and the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974.
Some businesses trialling the new system had faced "a whole ream of records" not previously part of their operation, but were now reaping the rewards, she said.
The number of Dunedin foot outlets with an A grade rating had risen from 37% in 2005 to 55% this year, helped by the new rules trialled for the past two years, she said.
"If they can put the system into practice and they're using it correctly, they are actually operating a better business as a result."
