The New Zealand Food Safety Authority says an agreement with its counterpart in Britain will mean there's less chance of duplicating areas of science expertise.
The FSA says collaboration with the UK Food Standards Agency will be in areas of mutual interest such as science, nutrition and labelling, and will involve sharing information as well as expert networks.
Chief executive Andrew McKenzie says the move is part of a bigger plan to develop closer relationships with other authorities, including those in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
He says the idea is to form a group so that research programmes can be aligned and there can be more co-operation between them.
This collaboration will also mean greater opportunity for the FSA to have overseas scientists peer-review cases, such as a review by the European Union of possible health risks associated with the A1 protein in milk.
Mr McKenzie says an agreement with the Irish food safety agency is also due to be signed soon.
