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Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is the federal government agency that develops food standards, including product labelling, to cover the whole of the food supply chain. All food manufacturers in Australia are required by law to provide nutrition information panels on food products, including information on protein, fat, carbohydrate, sugar, salt and energy (kilojoule) content. In addition, product labels need to carry an extended list of ingredients, a declaration of any major allergens and the percentage content of the key ingredient/s. AFGC is committed to ensuring that consumers are provided with high quality, safe and appropriately labelled products. This should be done through minimum effective regulation so that companies can continue to produce affordable products and be cost competitive. The AFGC’s food labelling policy, and that of its members, requires that companies:
• label
• label clearly
• substantiate label claims The AFGC supports the provision of sound nutritional information and dietary advice to consumers, so that they can make appropriate diet choices. To this end, the industry provides consumers with nutrition information by way of product labels, thereby enabling them to make informed choices in a short amount of time.
AFGC has been a consistent proponent of a food regulatory system that facilitates the provision of accurate information about the nutritional content of food. This allows consumers to make more informed decisions about the products they choose for themselves and their families based on ingredients, nutrition, quality, convenience and value for money. Daily Intake Guide The Daily Intake Guide is a positive move by the food and beverage industries to promote healthy dietary choices by consumers. This front-of-pack labelling scheme, which was launched in November 2006, is to be included on packs in addition to the nutrition information panel. The Daily Intake Guide helps consumers make easy, smart choices about the food they need to include in their diet and ultimately helps consumers see the relationship between a serve of food and their daily requirements. It is the presentation of ‘thumbnails’ on a product’s packaging, which indicate the amount per serve for energy and the nutrients—protein, carbohydrate, sugars, fat, saturated fat and sodium—and the percentage of daily intake these represent per serve. In line with the Food Standards Code, the ‘daily intakes’ in the thumbnails are based on those for an average adult diet of 8700KJ, including food and drink. For further information on the Daily Intake Guide visit www.mydailyintake.net. Allergen Labelling The Food Standards Code requires that the eight most common food allergens are declared on the label of packaged foods. The Australian Food and Grocery Council guide, provides a recommened standard allergen labelling format. For more information, on allergen labelling, click here.
Use By and Best Before Dates The Food Standards Code requires that packaged foods are labelled with a 'Use by' or 'Best before' date if the shelf life of the food is less than two years. The intention of date marking is to ensure consumer safety, provide a guide to retailers when to remove stock from sale, and provide a guide to consumers about the freshness and quality of the food. Guidance on the application of date marking is provided in the Code of Practice for Food Labelling and Promotion.
Non-grocery itemsThe labelling of non–food grocery items is regulated by more general legislation such as the trade practices act, and the trade measure act as well as state and territory fair trading legislation.
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