Review highlights labelling issues

The release of the independent Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy report illustrates the complex issues surrounding food labelling in Australia, the AFGC said.

There are a number of recommendations in the report that Australia’s $102 billion food and grocery industry supports, including:

• the need for a "single, consistent front of pack labelling system to provide accurate nutrition information to consumers and avoid conflicting messages about the health attributes of foods".
• a comprehensive Nutrition Policy being developed as part of a broader National Food Policy.
• Australia’s existing mandatory Country-of-Origin labelling requirements are retained and extended to cover all primary food products for retail sale, and to remove Country-of-Origin Labelling provisions from the Food Standards Code, giving sole responsibility to the ACCC.

But AFGC Chief Executive Kate Carnell said industry rejected the report’s recommendations 51, 52 and 53 on traffic light labelling.

Carnell commented that it was interesting that the report said there was “no consensus on the best form of labelling” on the front of food products.

“Industry rejects traffic light labelling on the basis that it’s badly understood by consumers and the system has been rejected by countries around the world. The Daily Intake Guide (DIG) is the labelling system preferred by the European Union.

“Industry is happy to work with the government to discuss delivering the DIG system to support recommendation 50 - to ensure DIG front-of-pack labels are better understood by consumers.”

DIG front-of-pack labels outline the amount of energy, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt in a standard portion of the food and how that translates to average daily intake. Industry research shows DIG front-of-pack labelling currently appears on more than 4000 food and beverage products.

Carnell said industry will develop a comprehensive response to the report, which will be made available to the federal government.