Contributions to this article also by Jacqueline Scarlett, Senior Associate and Kate Price, Lawyer
The Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy panel, headed by Dr Neal Blewett AC, has released its report into food labelling law and policy in Australia and New Zealand. The report, titled Labelling Logic, was released publically on 28 January 2011 following two rounds of consultation. During the consultation period, the review panel received more than 550 submissions and over 500 people attended public forums.
The report contains 61 recommendations, divided into five broad areas:
- public drivers of food labelling
- public health and food safety
- new technologies
- consumer values issues
- compliance and enforcement.
The recommendations could lead to reform affecting a number of industries, including the fast food and alcohol industries.
The majority of recommendations were made in relation to food labelling and include recommendations regarding:
- labelling of energy content on alcoholic drinks and provision of health warnings on alcohol labels
- labelling of trans fatty acids
- changes to labelling of added sugars, fats and vegetable oils, including a requirement to specify the type of additive
- declaration of energy content of standardised items at fast food chains and on vending machines
- labelling of genetically modified foods
- mandatory requirements for country-of-origin labelling framework to be expanded and included in consumer protection legislation
- creation of agreed standards for terms related to animal husbandry such as "free range", "barn laid" and "caged" eggs. (We discussed an example of this issue in our article " Recent ACCC activity".)
The recommendations on food labelling are categorised from high to low risk and the level of proposed government intervention is greater for the high risk issues. For example, issues relating to food safety are high risk and the recommendations propose mandatory regulations. Preventative health issues are deemed a slightly lower risk and the recommendations propose a mix of mandatory regulations and co-regulation.
The panel also recommended that "traffic light" front-of-pack labelling be introduced. This approach involves manufacturers being encouraged (and in some cases required) to include a red dot (an unhealthy choice), orange dot (an "okay" choice) or green dot (a healthy choice) to indicate how healthy the food product is. The panel recommended that it should be mandatory to include the traffic light system on packaging that included high level health claims and (at least initially) be voluntary for other food products. Naturally, a consumer awareness program would need to precede the traffic light labelling so that consumers understand the new symbols.
Further recommendations relating to compliance and enforcement aim to strengthen the Food Standards Code.
Prior to the release of the report there was some suggestion that the recommendations of the review panel would also require alcohol companies to produce information to support claims such as those about "low carb" beers, but this was not addressed in the report.
As yet, there is no indication of the Federal Government's position in relation to the recommendations. The Government response to the report is currently being formulated, and is not expected until December 2011. The Government response to this report, along with the progress of Private Senator's Bills relating to palm oil labelling, junk food advertising and the banning of trans fat from food products, are issues which will continue to develop in the food and beverage industry over the course of 2011.
We will keep you updated on the government's response to the report and any legislative changes. Click here to subscribe to our Food and Beverage newsletters. Please make this link to an email to with subject "subscribe me to Food and Beverage newsletter".
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
