Autumn Edition of Food Standards News 2009
In this edition
CEO’s message
Japan’s Food Safety Commissioner visits FSANZ
New technologies in food processing
Australian food businesses urged to update their food recall plans
FSANZ staffer rides to raise funds for juvenile diabetes research
Staff focus: Chief Medical Advisor Dr Bob Boyd
Health advisory labels on alcoholic beverages update
FSANZ seeks comment on Nutrition, Health and Related Claims consultation paper
FSANZ reviews trans fatty acid levels in food
FSANZ Board considers infant foods labelling changes
Outstanding performers win FSANZ staff awards
‘Quads Social Research Coordination Group meets in the United States
University of New South Wales undergraduates impress FSANZ with their work
CEO’s message
Regulation: red tape or necessary protection?
In our personal lives, we have all at one time or another grumbled about restrictions imposed on us by officialdom, whether they concern building approvals, being forced to wear seat belts when driving, rules on smoking or some other matter.
There is a tension between the government’s right to regulate for the benefit of the majority of the population versus our innate belief that we should be in control of our own destiny and make our own decisions on how we live.
Food regulation is not immune from this tension.
Industry wants to operate in a low regulatory environment, where food businesses can operate without onerous government restrictions. Industry wants to bring new foods to the marketplace and use new production technologies. Industry wants the freedom to innovate and take advantage of market opportunities.
But food is not like other traded commodities. Food consumption involves ingesting chemicals and micro-organisms directly into the body, which can be a hazardous process at the best of times. At worst, it can result in inadequate diets or even threats to human health.
Historically, food lore handed down through the generations has enabled us to steer clear of unsafe food and food practices. But food is now more complex. We cannot see for ourselves what is in processed foods – we have to be told. We no longer produce our food locally, relying on someone or some entity to ensure the safety of imported products. We eat out more often and rely on others to guarantee hygienic conditions.
In short, we have ceded to government the responsibility for safeguarding the safety of the food supply and for providing us as consumers with the information necessary to make wise buying decisions and to devise healthy diets.
FSANZ’s role in this regulatory process is to set mandatory national food standards. Food businesses must comply with these regulations as part of their obligations to doing business in Australia and New Zealand.
The onus is on FSANZ to ensure that its food standards are not only necessary to fulfil a public health or safety objective, or to ensure consumers are well informed, but are also the least burden possible to achieve these objectives.
The last thing we want to do is stifle innovation, because the food industry is one of the main contributors to the economic health of both countries. Through innovation, industry can provide greater consumer choice and expanded markets. FSANZ must therefore have assessment processes that do not act as an obstacle to the timely roll-out of new food products. However, these processes must be evidence-based and lead to regulations that afford consumers the highest level of protection.
One example now before us concerns the development of an appropriate standard for the regulation of the production and sale of raw (unpasteurised) milk products in Australia.
These products would fill a niche in the market and many people believe they are safe and will benefit human health. FSANZ’s job is to assess the risks to the population – especially vulnerable groups – and to decide whether the overall benefits, including increased consumer choice, outweigh the costs posed by the risks.
In the present climate of deregulation, and where these food products are prohibited (or subject to case-by-case approval), the question is: can we pull back from the current prohibition without compromising public health and safety?
To assist our decision making, we call on in-house experts in social science and economic analysis, as well as our extensive risk assessment capacity in the physical and biological sciences. We adopt a conservative approach to public health and public safety issues.
I am confident that the end result of such pieces of work will be reflected in food standards that give the community an appropriate level of protection, while providing industry with the encouragement to experiment.
Regulation will always be a case of one person’s red tape versus another person’s necessary protection. FSANZ, in its various guises, has worked in this environment for nearly two decades and is well aware of the need to get the balance right.
We are also well aware that our decisions are subject to scrutiny by the Ministerial Council responsible for food regulation. We are thereby accountable for our decisions at the highest level – and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Steve McCutcheon
Chief Executive Officer
Japan’s Food Safety Commissioner visits FSANZ
 | Commissioner and Deputy Chair of Japan’s Food Safety Commission, visited FSANZ in February 2009 to foster fraternal relations between our organisations. Dr Koizumi also visited the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority but her special skills and interests are in food safety, and particularly in the multitude of contaminants than can make our food supply unsafe. Dr Koizumi presented a general overview of the Food Safety Commission’s work and role to all FSANZ staff, surprising many with the information that the Commission’s annual budget is very similar to that of FSANZ, even though Japan has five times the population of Australia and New Zealand combined. However, the Commission’s food safety role does not involve standard setting nor is it as broad as ours. The Commission consists of seven full time members but it also has 14 expert committees involved in planning, emergency responses and risk communication. These committees have access to 246 experts from a wide variety of disciplines. Dr Koizumi said the Commission was created in 2003 in response to public disquiet about the way the Japanese Government handled the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy outbreak in 2001. |
‘The government felt obliged to create an independent food safety authority that was seen to be completely separate from government and administrative authority,’ Dr Koizumi said. ‘Its role was to carry out unbiased, independent and science-based risk assessment.’
She sees future challenges for the Commission’s risk assessment role as:
- genetically modified foods and new food technologies
- more efficient and effective risk assessment deliberations
- reliance on English translations of evaluation reports.
FSANZ Chief Scientist, Dr Paul Brent, observed that most of these challenges are very similar to those faced by our agency.
Dr Koizumi said risk communication is one the Commission’s most important roles and for this reason most of its meetings are open to the public. She cited an example of perception gaps in recognising risk using a 1990 survey of ‘homemakers’ and epidemiologists.
The survey found more than 90 per cent of homemakers learned about food safety from the media. And when asked what they believed causes cancer in a list of substances, 43 per cent of homemakers said food additives (only one per cent of epidemiologists said so) and just 11 per cent said cigarettes (30 per cent of epidemiologists agreed with this suggestion).
‘This is a powerful reminder of the importance of risk communication,’ Dr Kozuimi said. ‘We must create more easily understood materials, host more opinion exchange meetings and improve access to information.’
New technologies in food processing
Consumers’ expectations of fresher, tastier and safer food with less additives, yet with all the convenience of a longer shelf life, are providing commercial incentives for manufacturers to create new foods.
Pursuing consumers’ desires means manufacturers are seeking new technologies to apply to foods. FSANZ is keeping a watchful eye on these technologies to ensure that they are as safe as their traditional counterparts.
Consumers appear to be happy to pay extra for these ‘designer’ foods, which cost more because the developers and users of the technology need to overcome technical obstacles to make the food as safe and as appealing as possible while using less additives.
Many of the new technologies have been around for up to ten years but have yet to be applied commercially due to ongoing research and development and the need to meet regulatory requirements. As new technologies appear, it is clear to the scientists at FSANZ that continuing regulatory oversight is required.
So what are these technologies that are being developed to apply to foods before, during and after processing? Well, some of them have genuinely ‘space age’ appeal.
An example of a technology applied to a food before processing involves growing celery with a high level of natural nitrate. When the dried celery is added to processed meats it may negate the need for added sodium nitrate.
Other examples include high pressure processing, initially developed as a non-thermal antimicrobial process, which can be used to manipulate a food’s protein structures before traditional processing to enhance yield or specific characteristics. Then there are pulsed electric fields, which kill bacteria by disrupting their cell membranes.
During processing or in the period immediately afterwards, manufacturers have available a number of new thermal and non-thermal technologies. Traditional thermal technologies include baking, frying, or, for liquids, the use of heat exchangers. The new technologies are designed to be more energy efficient and to cause less change to the food – in some cases replacing heating (thermal) with other processes altogether (non-thermal).
New thermal technologies include ohmic heating, radio frequency and microwave heating. Ohmic heating is an advanced thermal processing method in which the food, which serves as an electrical resistor, is heated by passing electricity through it. Unlike conventional heat processing, which tends to heat only from the outside, ohmic heating heats the entire mass of the food material, resulting in a food of far greater quality than its counterpart.
Non-thermal technologies, especially those used to control microorganisms, can be used to treat bulk foods or just their surfaces. These technologies include high pressure, pulsed electric fields and ultrasound. Interestingly, while the food industry has only recently adopted high pressure processing, scientists reported in 1899 that milk could be pasteurised with high pressure, which inactivates microrganisms by disrupting their cellular functions. US company Hormel says its Natural Choice high pressure processed (HPP) deli meats have six less additives than they would if they were processed conventionally. HPP foods generally have longer shelf lives and retain their original characteristics.
However, HPP has a major disadvantage in that it does not inactivate microbial spores, so manufacturers may have to use other technologies with some foods.
Surface treatments, which involve ultraviolet light, pulsed light (with pulses of light 80,000 times brighter than sunlight for a few hundred microseconds) and gaseous processes, such as cool plasma, have an antimicrobial effect just on the surface of a food.
Until recently, plasma gas could only be created at high temperatures in a vacuum, such as in fluorescent lights. Now it can be created at 60 degrees C at atmospheric pressure, and is called ‘cool’ plasma. Manufacturers see it as a replacement for existing surface treatments like ethylene oxide or irradiation.
Then there’s smart packaging. Active or intelligent packaging systems allow food to be stored longer by continually modifying or monitoring it. There are many examples of active packaging but among them are those that scavenge oxygen from the food to inhibit mould and ethylene-scavenging systems, that limit fruit and vegetable ripening or ageing.
Examples of intelligent packaging include sensors that target microbial pathogens and films that change colour when a package is ruptured.
But while many manufacturers are investing in these new technologies, with nanotechnology seen as having perhaps the greatest potential for developing new intelligent packaging systems, they realise they are breaking new regulatory ground too.
When considering risk management of new technologies, a critical component is equivalence of outcome of processes, particularly where the traditional process is operating specifically for food safety reasons.
Australian food businesses urged to update their food recall plans
FSANZ has launched an updated Food Industry Recall Protocol: a Guide to Writing a Food Recall Plan and Conducting a Food Recall.
FSANZ Chief Executive Officer, Steve McCutcheon, said the national system for managing food recalls in Australia relies heavily on food businesses having appropriate plans in place to respond quickly and effectively to food safety and related issues.
Each year, there are between 50 and 60 food recalls in Australia in response to potential food safety issues. Food businesses themselves also initiate withdrawals of products for a range of reasons.
Mr McCutcheon urged all food businesses to get a copy of the updated protocol from the FSANZ website. It is full of useful tips about how to conduct a recall or withdrawal and includes an updated attachment detailing what information should be included in press advertisements. Our website has a downloadable press advertisement template to help affected businesses.
FSANZ offers a 24 hour a day seven days a week recall emergency contact to help food businesses with after hours recalls.
The updated recall protocol also includes:
- a new section to describe the roles and responsibilities of food retailers during a food recall
- a requirement that food businesses conducting the recall provide a list of the types of premises or stores likely to carry the food product, as well as the distribution lists, to assist with the recall process
- a clearer explanation of what a voluntary recall means (that when the manufacturer conducts a voluntary recall, it is mandatory for industry customers to recall the product)
- clarification that government authorities require notification of all recalls – but not withdrawals
- elaboration of what the term ‘goods’ refers to in the Trades Practices Act.
We have updated the protocol after extensive consultations with the food industry, the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the state and territory jurisdictions and other stakeholders.
Thanks to this consultation, we are satisfied that the existing protocol already largely meets the needs of industry and we have not had to make substantial changes to our internal processes, Mr McCutcheon said. We found that the comments from stakeholders were mainly very positive.
We began the exhaustive review of the food recall coordination process and food recall protocols in mid-2007 as part of the agency’s ongoing commitment to keeping all our food safety processes up to date.
The protocol is available from the FSANZ website HERE or in hard copy by emailing food.recalls@foodstandards.gov.au
FSANZ staffer rides to raise funds for juvenile diabetes research
While a significant number of federal public servants were enjoying themselves relaxing on their summer holidays, one FSANZ staffer was working hard to give less fortunate people the chance to enjoy themselves too. Samantha Thompson is a nutritionist and project manager with FSANZ’s labelling section. She has also had Type One diabetes since the age of five and, as a result, depends on a continuous injection of insulin and blood sugar monitoring, and probably will do for the rest of her life. Not that you’d know it. Sam is one of the most beamish people in the agency and has a smile that makes you think the sun is shining even on a dull day. She is also one of the fittest because she knows keeping fit - she has a black belt (First Dan) in taekwando - and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, are the best ways to deal with the disease. |
Sam and her father Jim |
Sam and her brother Simon
| Type One (or juvenile) diabetes is a disease of the immune system that most commonly strikes in childhood. It is caused by the unpredictable destruction of the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Without insulin, the body cannot convert food to energy. It is not caused by diet nor lifestyle, nor through any fault of the sufferer. It affects more than 140,000 Australians and millions more people world-wide. Every day, five more Australians, most of them children, are diagnosed with the disease. People don't grow out of it and there is no cure - yet. Even with the best care, a person with Type One diabetes risks developing long-term health complications such as blindness, heart disease or kidney failure. Medical research is the only hope for preventing or reversing its effects. Sam knows this, which was why she decided to take part with her father Jim and brother Simon in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s 2009 Ride to Cure Diabetes through South Australia’s Barossa Valley.
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Sam says: ‘The ride was really the culmination of many months spent fundraising for the event. To enter the ride, as a family we needed to raise a minimum of $12,500. This seemed a rather daunting task, but one I remained optimistic about. We raised the money from all sorts of avenues, including a massive BBQ put on by my taekwondo group, a coffee ride, an auction, raffles, we sent out business letters, media releases and more than a handful of emails. I am pleased to report we far exceeded that goal, raising an astounding $13,337, with the majority coming from generous cash donations by individuals. I am still in shock at the amount raised and am sincerely overwhelmed and humbled by the support received. This money contributed to the grand total of $1.31 million raised by the 360 participants entering the 2009 Ride to Cure.
‘I’d trained hard all year and was feeling fitter and healthier than ever before. After mum Josie (in her role as support crew) bade us farewell, at 8am the gun fired and dad, Simon and I set out on our long journey to conquer the 160km Barossa Valley ride. The weather started out a cool 15 degrees with a crisp breeze blowing, but it soon warmed up to a hot 34 degrees. All day we rolled over undulating terrain enjoying the scenery of brown hills and lush green vineyards. Despite a few mechanical problems, including a broken cleat that saw me cycling with only one foot clipped into my peddle for 40km (I knew those one-legged drills would come in handy at some point), and an unexpected episode of hypoglycaemia less than 1km from the finish line, the day was a huge success; we had a fabulous time, and it’s certainly a day that will leave a lasting memory.’
However, Sam knows that although it draws closer every day, the road to finding a cure is a long one and there is plenty more work to be done. ‘I realised that raising the money and completing a ride as a once-off would never be enough so I’ll be back to complete the ride again next year. I truly believe that one day there will be a cure, and I look forward to that day.’
You can find the juvenile diabetes website at: www.jdrf.org.au
Staff focus: Chief Medical Advisor Dr Bob Boyd
Dr Bob Boyd’s last day in the office was 5 March 2009, so ending 29 years in the public service in both New Zealand and Australia. After graduating MBChB from Otago University, Dr Bob, as he is affectionately known at FSANZ, had his career path mapped out, starting with one year as a house surgeon. The plan then was to do two years in the UK hospital system training in anaesthetics and obstetrics to prepare himself for life as a general practice anaesthetist back in New Zealand. Like many of his medical colleagues in the 1960s, travel to and from the UK was by sea as ship’s doctor. For this he received a free passage and the princely sum of one shilling per voyage. (Pictured is Dr Bob in his home office alongside an original oil painting of ‘his’ ship M.V. Wellington Star). |
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After becoming increasingly involved in medical politics, which required negotiating with government on behalf of GPs, Dr Bob ‘became tired of arguing with the bastards so I joined them’, to use his own words. Thus began a 23 year career in the NZ Ministry of Health (MoH) in a variety of roles through food and drug regulation, primary health strategies and hospital safety, to Chief Medical Advisor. Along the way he picked up specialist qualifications in General Practice, Pharmaceutical Medicine, Public Health and Medical Administration.
The Ministry’s Food Section was under his wing until the formation of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority in 2002, which combined the food-related staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries with staff from the MoH. Dr Bob asked to be seconded to the new agency for its formative year, and then began a trans-Tasman role with FSANZ, which entailed a transfer to the Australian Public Service.
A one year contract with FSANZ extended to five ‘very enjoyable’ years in food regulation working with the agency’s Chief Scientists, firstly Dr Marion Healy then Dr Paul Brent, but based in the Wellington office.
‘There have been some minor disappointments along the way, like having my baby, the Trans-Tasman Therapeutics Agency, stillborn because it did not have sufficient support in the NZ Parliament. However, this is outweighed by having worked with some very bright, skilled and politically savvy people who make up FSANZ and its scientific advisory committees. I trust them to ensure that the food my wife Margaret and I purchase will remain safe, nutritious and truthfully marketed’.
However, he won’t be sorry to miss the Wellington to Canberra economy class travel, having to be up at 4.00am NZ time (2.00am AEST) for departure and arriving home well after midnight on the return flight.
Outside work he is a Charter member of the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary (set in a valley very close to the Wellington CBD), and since buying a beach property in Otaki, north of Wellington, he has developed an interest in the history of Colonial settlement and Maori-Pakeha relationships in the area.
Retirement will mean he can spend more time at his Otaki cottage where the roads are flat, allowing him to ride a pushbike instead of his usual transport to work, a V-twin Yamaha motorbike. We wish him and Margaret well.
Health advisory labels on alcoholic beverages update
FSANZ is continuing work on two projects that involve the labelling of alcoholic beverages.
The first concerns Application (A576 ) to amend the Food Standards Code to require health advisory statements on packaged alcoholic beverage labels. These will advise of the risks of drinking alcohol when planning to become pregnant and during pregnancy.
The second considers mandatory health advisory statements on packaged alcohol to help curb alcohol misuse and binge drinking. FSANZ initiated this project in May 2008, when the Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council asked us to consider mandatory health warnings on packaged alcohol in the context of the Council of Australian Government’s desire to reduce binge drinking.
The Ministerial Council has asked us to take into account the work of the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, relevant guidelines in New Zealand, and the recommendations of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Australian Alcohol Guidelines for Low Risk Drinking, which were released at the end of February 2009. The New Zealand Ministry of Health also recommends against drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
We have commissioned a comprehensive literature review into the effectiveness of health advisory statements on the labels of alcoholic products. This review covers the effectiveness of labelling in relation to reducing harm from both binge drinking and drinking during pregnancy. We aim to report back to the Ministerial Council on the binge drinking aspects before May 2009.
For Application A576, we expect to release a Draft Assessment Report for public comment in mid-2009.
FSANZ seeks comment on Nutrition, Health and Related Claims consultation paper
The Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council asked us to review draft Standard 1.2.7 - Nutrition, Health and Related Claims in May 2008.
FSANZ staff have prepared a consultation paper for public comment as part of this review.
We have considered the issues raised by the Ministerial Council and prepared a consultation paper to give us feedback on areas where we have suggested the approach be changed. The paper covers two main aspects:
- a revised approach for the regulation of general level health claims
- revision of the text and structure of draft Standard 1.2.7.
The revised approach is intended to meet the Ministerial Council’s concerns about the approach that was previously suggested for regulating general level health claims. These concerns included that enforcement of, and compliance with, the proposed methods for substantiation of such claims would be difficult.
Under the new regulatory approach, general level health claims would only be permitted if the food-health relationship underpinning a claim is listed in the Standard. Other specific conditions regarding food eligibility criteria, wording and composition of the food must also still be met (these have not been amended as part of the review).
We have also re-drafted the entire Standard to make it clearer and easier to understand. We believe this will meet the Council’s concerns about the complexity of the draft Standard.
The consultation paper will be released for public comment for a period of eight weeks, from 20 March 2009to 15 May 2009.
The Council has extended the reporting timeframe for the review of the draft Standard 1.2.7 until March 2010. This will allow it to be considered concurrently with the outcomes of an independent Ministerial review of labelling law and policy being conducted in 2009. Our decision, taking into account comments from the public consultation, will be notified to the Ministerial Council for consideration in March 2010.
FSANZ reviews trans fatty acid levels in food
FSANZ is preparing a report on our review of voluntary activities by the food industry over the last two years to reduce trans fatty acid (TFA) levels in Australian and New Zealand food. The report will also assess changes in the population’s dietary intake of TFA, and establish whether changes in TFA levels have led to changes in the saturated fat content of processed foods.
In 2007, the Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council decided on a non-regulatory approach to reduce TFA levels in the Australian and New Zealand food supply.
The decision was based on analytical results of a 2007 survey of TFA levels in foods which found that, although the levels detected varied slightly in Australia and New Zealand, they were below those reported for other developed countries such as the United States. The contribution of TFA to total energy intake of Australians and New Zealanders, at 0.6% was also below the World Health Organization proposed goal of 1%.
For the last nine months, health departments in the Australian states and territories, together with the New Zealand Food Safety Authority and FSANZ, have been surveying the current levels of TFAs in processed foods. The New South Wales Food Authority was the lead agency for this survey work. We expect the results in mid-2009 and believe they will provide new data for assessing changes in TFA levels in the food supply over the last two years, and for determining current TFA intake levels for Australian and New Zealand populations.
Using data from the 2007 National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (Australia) and the 2002 Na