Upon recruitment, health inspectors receive some form of basic training in food safety and control. Food legislation Controls over food are set down in the Pure Food Act, Public Health Act, Restaurant Licensing Act, Sale of Meat Act, Slaughtering Act, Bread Act, Baby Feed Supplies Act and regulations made under these acts. Most of the food laws of Papua New Guinea are adopted from the Australian food laws. Only the central authorities are empowered to enact food safety legislation, but the provincial government may enact certain laws which are not inconsistent with the national laws. The main provisions contained in the Pure Food Act relate to food adulteration, administration and power to make regulations, food standards, food inspection, specific offences in relation to the purity of food, food labelling and legal proceedings for offences against the Act.
Regulations mainly regulate the sanitation of food, handlers, premises, utensils and food packaging.
Annex 1 indicates the food safety aspects covered by the food legislation. The Pure Food Act also contains requirements for food labelling. These include the trade name or description of the food, net weight, measure or volume of the contents and the name and address of the manufacturer or vendor. However, date-marking of food Is not mandatory. Together with the Pure Food Act and its regulation, the food standards have been formulated to apply to all the various categories of foodstuffs.