Move To Have More Information On Food Labels

The Managing Director of the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA), Ian Lindenmayer, today urged the community, industry, and government to have their say about whether food labels should list major ingredients by percentage.

This is the second round of public comment on this issue. The first round was in June this year. Since then, ANZFA has written a report which incorporates comments received in written submissions from individuals, industry, government, public health and community organisations. Stakeholder forums were also held in Canberra and Wellington on 5 and 7 October respectively. The report,Percentage labelling of characterising ingredients in food and the declaration of added water in foodis available on ANZFA’s website , .

'This is another opportunity for people to have their say about the proposed percentage labelling of food,' Mr Lindenmayer said. 'ANZFA believes there are many advantages for consumers in having this new information on food labels.

'At the moment, information about ingredients in food is limited, making it hard for consumers to compare products that appear to be similar.

'Under the proposed percentage labelling system, consumers would be able to easily compare similar products and assess them for value for money,' Mr Lindenmayer said.

'For example, you’ll be able to read the label of a strawberry jam jar to see how much strawberry it contains which could help you choose the type of jam that best suits your tastes.

'Percentage labelling will give you useful information about the major ingredients in foods but it isn’t a guide to quality.'

Mr Lindenmayer said percentage labelling would also help to prevent consumer fraud and deception as it would deter any manufacturer from making claims about the contents of foods which could not be substantiated.

ANZFA has modified its earlier proposal to take account of industry concerns that a percentage labelling requirement would impose unnecessary costs on manufacturers of products containing ingredients where seasonal and other factors caused variations in the proportion of ingredients. To allow for this, it is now proposed to permit the label to state the minimum amount of the key ingredient or ingredients, e.g. at least 40% of strawberries.

After this latest round of public consultation, ANZFA will put forward its recommendation next year to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council comprising of Commonwealth, State and Territory, and New Zealand Health Ministers.

Written submissions on percentage labelling and added water should be sent to ANZFA by cob8 December 1999.

The Project Manager	The Project Manager
Percentage Labelling (P207)	Percentage Labelling (P207)
& Added Water (P206)	& Added Water (P206)
PO Box 7186	PO Box 10559
Canberra Mail Centre ACT 2610	The Terrace WELLINGTON 6036
AUSTRALIA	NEW ZEALAND
Tel (02) 6271 2222 Fax (02) 6271 2278	Tel (04) 473 9942 Fax (04) 473 9855

For hard copies of the full assessment report, please contact the Information Officer in Canberra on (02) 6271 2222 or the Office Administrator in Wellington on (04) 473 9942.

Percentage Labelling And Added Water

KEY POINTS

Percentage labelling will apply to characterising ingredients or a category of ingredient when these:

appear in the name of a food;
are usually associated with the name of a food by consumers; or
are emphasised in the labelling through words, pictures or graphics.

Percentages would be calculated on the ingoing weight of the key ingredient as a proportion of the total ingoing weights of all the ingredients in a food.

It is proposed that percentage labelling will apply to packaged and unpackaged food. In the case of unpackaged food, the percentages of key ingredients would have to be displayed at the point of sale. It is recommended that where foods are made at the request of, or in front of consumers, these will be exempt from percentage labelling requirements. Other classes of foods exempt from percentage labelling include single ingredient foods such as orange juice and milk and alcoholic beverages.

ANZFA’s report outlines views for and against percentage labelling. These include:

For:

Percentage labelling will provide consumers with information to make more informed purchasing choices.
It assists in preventing consumer fraud and deception.

Against:

Industry data suggests that consumer demand for percentage labelling is extremely low.
Percentage labelling will impose considerable costs on industry and enforcement agencies.

The issue of added water in food is also addressed in the report. ANZFA is proposing that:

Added water should be declared in the ingredient list in descending order of the proportion of ingoing weight minus the amount of water which is evaporated during manufacture. Added water should also be declared as a percentage in the ingredient list where it is a characterising ingredient.