Leading Food Industry Expert Rejects claims by manufacturers they would have to reveal secret recipes under New food Labelling proposals, ANZFA proposing compulsory Nutrition Labelling - as well as Labelling of key ingredients (by percentage)
Station: ABC 774 3LO Date: 14/11/2000
Program: AM Time: 08:22 AM
Compere: PETER CAVE Summary ID: M00002611712
Item: REPORT ON A LEADING FOOD INDUSTRY EXPERT REJECTING CLAIMS BY MANUFACTURERS THEY WOULD HAVE TO REVEAL SECRET RECIPES UNDER NEW FOOD LABELLING PROPOSALS, ANZFA PROPOSING COMPULSORY NUTRITION LABELLING - AS WELL AS LABELLING OF KEY INGREDIENTS (BY PERCENTAGE)
INTV: RAY WINGER, AUSTRALIA AND NZ FOOD AUTHORITY, INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVE
COMPERE: A leading food industry expert has rejected claims by manufacturers that they would have to reveal secret recipes under new food labelling proposals.
The Australia New Zealand Food Authority is proposing compulsory nutrition labelling as well as labelling of key ingredients by percentage. Some manufacturers have rejected the proposal, arguing it's too costly and too confusing.
Ray Winger is Professor of Food Technology at Massey University in New Zealand, and he represents industry on the ANZFA board. He explained the benefits of food labelling to our reporter, Alison Caldwell.
DR RAY WINGER: The issue with labelling under the new regulations is that we are there trying to give the consumers choice. Between the nutrition information panel and the percentage labelling and the full ingredient panel, consumers will have the best choice they've every had for making decisions about products that they eat.
ALISON CALDWELL: There's some bacon here. Can you tell me by looking at that and looking at the label, what's in the packet...?
RAY WINGER: Firstly, you would hope you were buying pork meat and that would be the primary constituent of this. But what you are also buying which you can't see, there's quite a bit of water. We made bacon and ham like consumers were used to 20 or 30 years ago, you would be paying 20 or 30 or $35 dollars per kilo for that product. Consumers can't afford that. The water adds weight.
You start with, let's say 100 kilos of pork with the added water, you may end up with between 120 and 140 kilos of finished bacon or finished ham at the other end.
ALISON CALDWELL: If there was percentage labelling applied to that packet of bacon, how would it change?
RAY WINGER: The ingredients at the moment read pork, salt, sucrose, mineral salts, antioxidants and sodium nitrite. This would change to be pork, so many per cent. There would also be water included on the label and that would be the second ingredient.
Here we have a vanilla ice cream. By current regulations, by law, that must have a minimum of 10 per cent dairy fat in it. Right next to it, we have a light product. It says on there, only half the fat, and it says half the fat effectively of that creaming product. But you won't find the word ice cream on there because a product with 5 per cent fat is illegal to be called an ice cream.
ALISON CALDWELL: We've got here some chocolate powder for drinks. What's on the label now and how would it change?
RAY WINGER: They've got an ingredient label. There are a variety of things that are missing on there. Firstly there is no nutrition information panel which will be required. Secondly, any chocolate product will have to define the amount of chocolate material or cocoa. The percentage of cocoa will have to be defined so there's quite a bit of change to be done on that particular label.
ALISON CALDWELL: What about the theory that manufacturers are afraid of what they are going to have to reveal?
RAY WINGER: Any concern by manufacturers that they are going to be providing recipes or confidential information to their competitors is fallacious. The competitive ability to copy products is extremely high. That's not an issue. The issue of perhaps exposing practices that could be fraudulent is one that I think both manufacturers and consumers would be very happy to have happen.
COMPERE: Alison Caldwell was speaking to Professor Ray Winger from New Zealand's Massey University.