Trans-Tasman accord on food health claims

Australian and New Zealand ministers have reached agreement on new standards for nutritional claims on food labelling and packaging.

At a meeting of the Legislative and Governance Forum on Food Regulation in Brisbane, ministers from both sides of the Tasman agreed to enact new laws next year regulating the way nutritional and health claims, such as 'low fat' or ‘contains calcium for healthy bones’ can be made on food priducts.

Under the new rules, general level health claims, for example ‘calcium is good for strong bones’, can be supported by either pre-approved or industry self-substantiated food health relationships. Higher level health claims, such as ‘calcium reduces the risk of osteoporosis’, will require pre-approval by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).

All health claims will be required to be supported by scientific evidence and will only be permitted on foods that meet specific eligibility criteria, including nutrition criteria.

The official communique from the forum said the new standard aims to ensure that consumers can have confidence that health claims are evidence based.

When gazetted, food businesses will have three years to meet the requirements of the new standard. During this period, FSANZ will undertake further work with industry, public health and consumers on a range of issues including refining the nutrient profiling scoring criteria and developing and implementing a process to maintain the scientific currency of pre-approved food-health relationships.


The agreement was welcomed by Cancer Council Australia, which said the move would help consumers make more informed, healthier purchasing choices.

“Claims like ‘contains calcium for bone health’ are applied to many packaged food products as a marketing ploy and can imply an overall health benefit, even on foods that are not nutritious overall,” the Cancer Council’s nutrition spokesperson, Clare Hughes, said.

“The new laws will ensure that food manufacturers can only apply these types of health claims to products that meet minimum nutrition standards.

“This is a good result for consumers wanting to make healthier choices, particularly at a time when Australia faces an unprecedented burden of diet-related disease.”

She said, however, significant reform in food labelling was still required to ensure consumers had clearer guidance to informed, healthier choices.

The Brisbane meeting also considered front-of-pack labelling, with ministers noting that good progress had ben made on the development of an Australian interpretive front-of-pack labelling system for food that would be easily understood by consumers. They said the collaborative process with key stakeholders would continue with an eye to developing the system by mid-June next year.

Ministers also agreed to an Australian standard on country of origin labelling to include all unpackaged meat products. They agreed that businesses can comply with the requirement by displaying a single sign for Australian product with imported product specifically labelled.