The Australian Beverages Council has committed the non-alcoholic drinks industry to lifting low and no sugar drinks to 70 per cent of water-based beverage sales by 2030, up from 65 per cent in 2024.
The target is the centrepiece of the council’s Beverage Choices Roadmap to 2030 (BCR30), launched by CEO Geoff Parker at its annual Drinks Industry Dialogue in Sydney yesterday. (FDB managing editor, Kim Berry, mc’d the event and chaired two panel discussions.)
The roadmap brings existing industry commitments together under four pillars: responsible marketing and advertising, energy drinks, consumer awareness, and choice. It builds on the industry’s sugar reduction pledge, which Federal Assistant Minister for Health, Rebecca White, said in a recorded message had delivered a 21 per cent reduction in sugar in drinks sold, about 255,000 tonnes, since 2015.
Parker said sugar sweetened beverages accounted for 70 per cent of water-based beverage sales 30 years ago, falling to 35 per cent in 2024. He called on members to reformulate existing drinks, launch new low or no sugar options, consider smaller pack sizes, and adopt the Health Star Rating before it becomes mandatory.
Regulatory pipeline
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) CEO, Dr Sandra Cuthbert, told delegates the sugar reduction meant FSANZ had not been asked to intervene.
“Please give yourself applause that you did my job for me,” she said.
Cuthbert outlined several pieces of work that will affect beverage innovation. FSANZ expects to release a consultation paper on novel foods in the next month or two, aimed at identifying quick improvements to how new ingredients are assessed, with the review to be finalised within about 24 months. A review of the supplemented sports foods standard, one of the oldest in the Food Standards Code, will run alongside it.
Consultation on whether to mandate the Health Star Rating closes on 23 December, with a final decision expected to go to the FSANZ board in June 2027. A principles-based review of digital labelling has found not all information needs to be on both physical packs and online, and has been handed to the policy team, with consultation likely early next year. FSANZ is also preparing a paper on aligning standards with overseas markets to support exports.
Cuthbert said FSANZ consumer research showed trust in labels had fallen after recent news coverage of products not matching their claims, and that the nutrition information panel is the most trusted part of a pack. On functional claims, she warned manufacturers: “You should assume that if something can be tested, it will at some stage.”
Function and export
GlobalData Principal Consumer Analyst, Katrina, said growth to 2030 would come from owning more consumption occasions rather than new categories. Only 44 per cent of Australian soft drink consumers want a drink to refresh them, with 27 per cent wanting it to energise them.
Australians are less convinced by functional claims than Asian consumers. Just 19 per cent say protein fortification is essential when choosing food and drink, against 69 per cent in Indonesia, and 31 per cent say low sugar is essential, against 61 per cent in Indonesia and 49 per cent in Thailand. She urged brands to treat Australia as a test bed and Asia as the prize.
Among her bets to 2030 were drinks for GLP-1 users, with 23 per cent of Australians using or considering the medication, and fibre, which 26 per cent of Australians rate as essential compared with 19 per cent for protein.
Advertising and packaging
Ad Standards data showed food and beverage advertising made up less than 1 per cent of cases going to its community panel since January last year, with four cases out of 451 and one breach. Marketing Association of Australia CEO, Josh, told delegates the federal government had signalled restrictions on unhealthy food and drink advertising were not currently a priority, though that could change.
A panel on packaging and emerging contaminants highlighted major gaps in the science on microplastics and PFAS. CSIRO Senior Principal Research Scientist, Dr Jason Kirby, said detection techniques for microplastics were still giving different answers. Solving Plastic Waste CRC CEO, Paul Hodgson, said the CRC is supporting an Australian Beverages Council project in its microplastics program, and urged industry to address the issue collectively rather than brand by brand.
“If you create fear without a solution, you’re in a really difficult position, particularly for regulators,” Hodgson said.
