Talk from the top with Dr Sandra Cuthbert

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has a long list of priorities for 2025 — including digital communication on standards, finalising energy labelling and claims on alcoholic beverages, updating definitions for gene technology, reviews on egg food safety and caffeine, surveillance of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in food, potential mandating of HSR, reviewing the NIP, toddler milk and sports food standards, and working to harmonise maximum residue limits. In this article, What’s New in Food Technology & Manufacturing magazine takes a look at a day in the life of the FSANZ CEO and her plans and priorities for the future.

What does a day in your life typically look like?

A typical day as FSANZ CEO reflects the dynamic nature of standards setting across Australia and New Zealand. My mornings often begin with briefings on priority projects: from advancing our priority standards development work, to coordinating responses to any emerging food incidents. These strategic discussions ensure we are effectively delivering on our mission of developing evidence-based food standards while enabling innovation in the food industry.

Throughout the day, I engage with diverse stakeholders — from government partners and industry representatives to public health and consumer groups and international counterparts. Whether I am reviewing scientific assessments, preparing for board meetings, catching up on the news, mentoring staff or discussing broader government objectives, each day brings opportunities to work towards our vision of world-leading standards and safe food for life.

Using your latest analysis, what seem to be the main pain points for food recalls in Australia?

Based on our food recall data, undeclared allergens continue to be the leading cause of food recalls in Australia. There’s a range of reasons for this type of recall — foods accidently put in the wrong packaging, suppliers not correctly verifying ingredients and labelling errors among them. Rather than pain points, I see these recalls as an indicator that businesses are doing the right thing and recalling products when mistakes are made, contributing to a safer food supply. A recall also tends to prompt businesses to take corrective action to ensure they don’t have a repeat of the situation. These actions can include staff training, improved manufacturing processes, altered product ingredients and amended handling procedures. FSANZ gathers data on all the recalls we coordinate. This helps both state and territory food enforcement agencies and industry to ensure product compliance and take prompt action when a recall is required.

How successfully does the food manufacturing industry, in general, currently engage with FSANZ and how do you think this could be improved?

We value our constructive relationships with all our stakeholders, including those in the food sector. We engage with food producers, manufacturers and retailers through a range of mechanisms including formal committees, standards development advisory groups, stakeholder events and our public consultation processes. We know the food industry values this engagement — our 2024 stakeholder satisfaction survey shows more than 80% of industry stakeholders were satisfied with FSANZ and trust us to do our job. Many stakeholders highlighted the value of clear and timely information, early engagement and opportunities for informal consultation.

But we also know we can do more, particularly in helping new businesses or those who have not dealt with FSANZ before to more easily engage with us. We’re looking at a number of ways to improve the onboarding experience, including by providing better information and new tools like our recently launched Food Standards Code compilation. Watch this space!

What challenges are you facing with the compliance of consumer information/labelling standards across the food industry at the moment?

FSANZ develops evidence-based standards for food labelling with a goal to help consumers make informed choices. The Nutrition Information Panel (NIP), Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) and ingredient lists are just some of the labelling requirements set by the Food Standards Code. These measures provide essential information to consumers to help them compare products, manage dietary intake and avoid allergens. State and territory food enforcement agencies lead efforts to ensure industry compliance with these standards. We work closely with our partners in the food regulation system to monitor the effectiveness and uptake of labelling standards to ensure they work as intended to support consumers to make informed food choices.

With a slow uptake on HSR, NIP and pregnancy labelling on alcohol, is it likely that these standards will be mandated soon? If so, can you please share more details about how you think the mandating process will work?

While the NIP and pregnancy warning labelling on alcoholic beverages are already mandated for packaged foods and alcohol respectively, the Health Star Rating system is currently voluntary for industry. Australian and New Zealand food ministers have set a HSR uptake target of 70% of intended products by 14 November 2025. They have asked FSANZ to undertake preparatory work to inform future decisions on the HSR system should this target not be met. This work is being carried out in parallel with a review of the NIP, providing a unique opportunity to strengthen nutrition labelling on both the front and back of packaged foods to support healthier consumer choices.

A public call for information on both pieces of work closed in January 2025, with stakeholder input now being considered by FSANZ. We intend to publish a ‘what we heard’ report in the coming months and the information received will help inform future decision-making by food ministers on the HSR system, with ministers expected to consider their options in early 2026. It will also assist in identifying if changes to the NIP are needed to better support consumers to make healthy food choices. Should food ministers decide to mandate the HSR system, or the NIP review identify that changes to the NIP are warranted, FSANZ would prepare proposals to amend the Code according to our usual processes.

What are FSANZ’s and the Food Minister’s main concerns that need to be addressed with new food technology coming onto the market; for example, GM food and cell-based meat?

Our focus is on ensuring new food technologies are safe while supporting innovation in the food sector. We take an evidence-based approach to assessing new technologies, considering both safety and broader impacts. Beyond emerging technologies like cell-based meat, we are also updating the Code definitions for gene technology and new breeding techniques to ensure our regulatory framework remains current and appropriate for assessing innovations in this space.

Are you able to share any progress reports following FSANZ’s two-year surveillance project that looked into food safety and antimicrobial resistant bacteria in the Australian retail food supply? And will you be looking at collecting more data throughout 2025?

Our surveillance project on antimicrobial resistant bacteria in the Australian food supply, funded by the Department of Health and Aged Care, is in its final stages. This important work, which began in late 2021, directly supports Objective 5 of Australia’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy – 2020 and beyond. The project has involved collecting samples across all states and territories, helping us better understand antimicrobial resistance in our retail food supply. The initial analysis is nearing completion and we’re hoping to publish results in the coming months. This data will help inform risk management approaches and contribute to national and international efforts to address this issue.

Are there any other upcoming developments that you’d like to share with the food processing and manufacturing industry?

Several important reviews and updates are underway or nearing completion. We’re currently examining egg food safety standards, reviewing caffeine in the food supply and undertaking our 28th Australian Total Diet Study, Australia’s most comprehensive monitoring survey of chemicals, nutrients and other substances in the Australian diet. In the near future, we will commence a review of toddler milk standards to ensure standards are based on the latest evidence and reflect current international regulations and market development. We’re also enhancing our emergency response capabilities, expanding international collaboration and preparing for the outcomes of the FSANZ Act Review. We encourage industry to stay engaged with our consultations and news updates.

Dr Sandra Cuthbert was appointed Chief Executive Officer of FSANZ on 31 March 2022 to 31 March 2027. Sandra has extensive leadership, policy, corporate governance and stakeholder engagement experience across the public and private sectors. She has held senior roles with the Australian Government departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Finance, and Agriculture and Water Resources, as well as FSANZ. Sandra brings a practical understanding of the complex environment that FSANZ operates within, drawing on her experience managing the agency’s stakeholder engagement, corporate and food safety functions between 2018 and 2021.