Again Again is often asked about how to sanitise containers to meet regulations, and specifically Regulation 70 of the New Zealand Food Regulation 2015
We are not able to offer you specialist information to inform your decisions about how you meet the requirements of the act. This is the responsibility of the retailer or vendor.
We are happy to provide the following information, but caveat that this is not instructional.
Our observed adherence of vendor partners to regulations
The majority of our vendor partners are selling cross-counter food and beverage that is not packaged under pressured conditions or with additional processes to prolong the lifetime of the product. In these circumstances, these vendors have deemed that the provision of containers for this purpose is deemed 'packaging', and is regulated under Regulation 70 of the New Zealand Food Regulation 2015.
Many of these vendors have food control plans in place that cover the sanitisation of food accessories. A commercial dishwasher and the documented workflow through such equipment is usually a part of the food control plan.
In instances that a retailer is working under a National Programme this may not be included, and Again Again asked for documentation of this process as part of the registration process.
With respect to flagons, we have chosen a wide neck flagon to enable maximum hot water penetration in the dishwashers, and encourage vendors to use a bottle brush to clean inside prior to putting through the sanitiser.
More information
For more information, we suggest you reference the Ministry for Primary Industries in New Zealand. They publish a lot of information about the regulations and your obligations to meet them.
MPI - Food businesses