Fact Sheets for Charities and Community Organisations

Labelling

When new food legislation comes fully into effect from December 2002, food sold at events that raise money solely for charitable or community causes and not for personal financial gain will no longer need to be labelled.

The only exception to this is if you are selling royal jelly [i] or a food that contains royal jelly as an ingredient. If you are, a warning statement [ii] must be included on the label.

Although you do not need to label your food, there are circumstances where the law requires you to provide information about the foods you sell, if you are asked. For example, if someone asks you whether a food contains a particular ingredient that may cause an allergic reaction, you must provide this person with this information.

Ingredients that may cause allergic reactions are listed at the end of this fact sheet. If the food being sold contains any of these ingredients, somebody at the sales point should know and be able to provide the information when asked, or a sign could be included where the food is displayed. An ingredient list on the label makes this task easier.

Although charities and community organisations are not required by law to label food, they may wish to provide labels on their products to enable the buyer to identify the food, its ingredients and where it was made. If you do decide to label the food, read the section ' How to label food' .

There are also other circumstances when information may need to be provided. Before the event takes place, the organiser of the charitable or community event should ask their local council or health authority whether any of these circumstances apply. [iii]

Why label food?

Food labels identify the food and provide information to help people decide whether they are able or want to eat the food. It also helps the event organiser know what food is being sold, what it contains and where it has come from.

How to label food

If you wish to label your food, it is recommended that the label includes:

• a description of the food, for example ' strawberry jam' or ' chocolate cake' ;
• the name and address of the person or company who made the food, so that the maker can be traced if there is any problem with the food. A street address is needed, as a post office box cannot be traced;
• a list of ingredients;
• a ' best before' date to indicate how long the food will keep; and
• any special storage conditions, for example ' keep refrigerated' .

Your State or Territory' s government department that regulates weights and measures may also require the weight of the product to be included.

A simple handwritten label is fine.

If you prepare the product yourself you will know what is in it. If you have used a packet mix write the ingredients from the packet on your label. Remember to include any other ingredients you may have added, such as eggs.

If the event organiser wishes to identify each maker of food without including their specific details, he or she can use a single address for all products and a separate code for each maker, such as Layton Tennis Club, 3 Brick Road, Layton, Qld 4117, Code 23, as used in the above example. This means that maker number 23 made the food for the Layton Tennis Club. The organiser keeps a list of these codes and the makers' details.

Foods or ingredients that are known to cause allergic reactions

If food for sale contains any ingredient on the following list, the information must be given to a buyer on request, or displayed next to the food or on the packaging:

• gluten (a substance found in wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt [iv] , and therefore present in foods made from these grains, such as flour)
• fish and fish products
• crustacea (shellfish) and products
• egg and egg products
• milk and milk products
• soya beans and products
• peanuts and products
• sesame seeds and products
• other nuts and products
• sulphites (a preservative) [v]
• royal jelly (a secretion from the salivary glands of honey bees)
• bee pollen (pollen collected from the legs of bees)
• propolis (a substance collected by bees).