Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has undertaken a second round of public consultation on its review of the addition of caffeine to food, closing 15 April, which will specifically target sports foods and consider the risk posed to sensitive sub-populations.
Proposal P1056 aims to clarify the regulations around the retail sale of caffeine and its addition to food, following issues raised in Urgent Proposal P1054 – Pure and highly concentrated caffeine products – prepared as an emergency interim response to the immediate and acute risk these products were found to pose to consumers.
This proposal came into force on 12 December 2019, prohibiting the retail sale of foods in which total caffeine is present in a concentration of 5 per cent or more (in solid or semi-solid food) or 1 per cent or more (in liquid food).
FSANZ CEO, Dr Sandra Cuthbert, said the issue of whether additional measures were required in relation to caffeine in food, particularly formulated supplementary sports foods, was raised following the implementation of P1054.
“A number of amendments to the regulation of caffeine in foods are proposed to ensure the continued protection of public health and safety, particularly for vulnerable sub-populations,” said Cuthbert.
Proposal P1056 would replace P1054, with the draft variation including a blanket prohibition on the retail sale of caffeine as a food, unless expressly permitted by the Code. FSANZ completed the first round of consultation for P1056 in December 2022. After reviewing submitter feedback and considering the available evidence, a draft variation to the Code was prepared.
The key change proposed in the new draft is the express permission to add caffeine to Formulated Supplementary Sports Foods (FSSF), up to a 200 mg one-day quantity. Where caffeine is added to FSSF, consumers would be provided with standardised information on product labels about the caffeine content of the food.
This comes under P1056’s generalised proposal to set new compositional, packaging, and labelling requirements for FSSF, including a requirement that a FSSF must not contain caffeine at a concentration of 5 per cent or more for a FSSF in a powdered form, or 1 per cent or more for a FSSF in a liquid form.
The caffeine issue is particularly relevant given the case in South Australia last year, where the South Australian government pulled potentially harmful non-compliant energy drinks from the shelves of 18 retailers, some with almost double the maximum permitted level of caffeine.
Under the Food Standards Code, it is illegal to sell energy drinks which contain more than 320 mg/L of caffeine, but there is no nationally recognised safe level of caffeine consumption. P1056 narrows the definition further for future legislation, with the addition of the 200 mg one-day quantity for FSSF.
The second round of public consultation on P1056 closes 15 April. Stakeholders can have their thoughts considered by submitting them through the FSANZ consultation hub.
