The survey was commissioned by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), as part of its Domestic Food Review.

It found that most of those working in food processing, retail and the food service sector get only the bare minimum in basic food safety training.

And out of the 400 food businesses surveyed, just over 20 per cent of workers had no formal food safety training at all.

The most common form of training took no more than a day, and was often designed specifically to meet the base legislative requirements.

The survey also revealed industry concerns that high staff turnover, around 35 per cent, meant food safety training was a costly investment for a relatively short term gain.

Carole Inkster, NZFSA's director of policy, noted that the Food Act is "silent on training for people in the food sector".

As a consequence about a third of local governments require such training through local government bylaws. This means there is no consistent, national approach, she said.

The Domestic Food Review is a long-term project that aims to put in place a food regulatory programme across all sectors of New Zealand's food industry.