There are some foods that don't require a nutrition information panel, unless nutrition content or health claims are made, for example:
- foods sold unpackaged
- foods sold in small packages (e.g. about the size of a larger chewing gum packet)
- foods made and packaged at the point of sale (e.g. bread made and sold from a bakery).
No, however the Food Standards Code requires that labels must be legible and prominent so they are distinct from the background, and in English.
If you are using an ingredient that is likely to contribute to the information for the nutrition panel, there are several things you could do:
- Try searching for the food under a different name. For example, if you are searching for "chard", you will not find it, however, you will find silverbeet.
- You could enter the nutrient information (from the per 100 g/ml column) from the ingredient label as a custom ingredient. If you are entering millilitres, you will need a specific gravity (the NPC provides a
list of specific gravities (SG) that may be suitable). If your product is not listed, the Explanatory Notes provide a method for calculating a SG for your product.
- If the ingredient does not have a nutrition information panel (NIP), you could contact the manufacturer or supplier of the ingredient and ask them to provide the appropriate nutrient values.
- You could use a substitute ingredient. For example, if you use 'almond flour' in your recipe and you cannot find 'almond flour' in the NPC, you could use 'almond, blanched, skin off, no added salt' as a substitute.
- You could try to find a nutrient profile from another source, such as a similar branded product, the literature, the Internet or international food composition dataset, etc. You could then enter the nutrient profile as a custom ingredient. Note that you will need to ensure that the nutrient data you use is suitable for the intended purpose. The requirements for the calculation of values for nutrition information panels are in Schedule 11 of the Food Standards Code.
The final decision on how to deal with missing ingredients is yours. If you decide to use a substitute ingredient or nutrient data from another source, you will have to consider the appropriateness of the data and assess whether it meets the requirements of Standard 1.2.8 and Schedule 11.
After you enter a recipe or custom ingredients into the NPC, you must use the 'Save and close' button to save a copy of the recipe/ingredient to your browser's temp file. A message will pop up to let you know this has happened. If you close your browser and come back later and all of your recipes have gone from the "load existing NPC recipe" box on the NPC welcome page, it is likely that you (or someone else) have deleted your browser history (or you have your browser settings set to delete history on exit) or updated your browser or operating system.
We strongly recommend that you use the backup/restore button at the end of every session to ensure you can restore your data should it be lost. If you have done this, you will be able to follow the prompts and select the most recent data file to restore. If you have not made a backup of your data FSANZ cannot recover your recipes or custom ingredients.
The NPC is designed to create a basic NIP. It only includes the six mandatory nutrients (protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugars and sodium) and energy. It does not include or other nutrients. You may find that there is nutrient data for products similar to yours in one of our other datasets, e.g.
AUSNUT2011‒13 or NUTTAB2010 that may be suitable and may be representative of your product. You will have to use your own skill, care and judgement to decide if it is suitable for you to use. In the end, you may need to consider having your product analysed by a suitably qualified laboratory.
Products are often boiled and then strained after cooking or processing. This results in two sources of weight change (e.g. moisture loss and removal of some or all of the pulp/skin etc). The NPC calculates nutrient values on the assumption that all weight change is a change (loss/gain) in the moisture content.. The NPC contains a number of existing nutrient profiles for jams and juices, which may be suitable for you to use for your product. You could also consider searching FSANZ or international datasets for similar product that may represent the nutrient profile for your product. Due to the wide variety of techniques used in the manufacturing process for these products it is not possible to provide advice on how you can calculate an NIP using the NPC. You may need to consider having your product analysed by a suitably qualified laboratory.
Stock ('Bone broth'): Some people use the term 'bone broth' to mean 'stock'. Stock is a flavoured liquid generally made with beef bones or chicken carcasses/bones, vegetables and flavourings such as bay leaves, peppercorns, parsley stalks, etc. and water before boiling, simmering, skimming and straining the flavoured liquid. Many people ask why we do not have bones as an ingredient in the NPC. A nutrient profile for bones and carcasses is not included in the NPC because they are not edible. Similarly, the ingredients used to flavour the liquid are discarded; therefore may not make a significant contribution to the nutrient profile of the stock. However, this will depend on how well the product is made, how fine the strainer is and how much of the fat is skimmed off or removed after cooking/processing. We suggest using the nutrient profile for "Stock, liquid, all flavours (except fish), homemade from basic ingredients", as a substitute ingredient. This is available in the AUSNUT2011-13 dataset (Food ID 10C10559). Access or download
AUSNUT2011-13 files.
If you are making a broth that has cooked vegetables and/or meat (e.g. chicken) added back to it or that are not removed after cooking, you can add the amounts of these as ingredients to your stock recipe (e.g. chicken, whole, lean, stewed or braised).
FSANZ can't approve food labels or NIPs (see 'Can you approve my label?'). The NPC calculates the average nutrient values for the six mandatory nutrients and energy based on the ingredients you choose, the custom data you enter, the weight change from processing and the serve size you choose. The prescribed format for an NIP is provided in
Schedule 12 of the Food Standards Code.
In relation to compliance you may wish to consult a food lawyer or consultant.
Occasionally the NPC server may have to be shut down and restarted. When this occurs, the NPC may be unavailable for a short time. However, if the server shuts down or requires restarting over the weekend, it may not happen until the next business day. During business hours, we suggest you close your browser, wait an hour and try again. If the service is still unavailable, please feel free to send an email to
npc@foodstandards.gov.au alerting us to the issue. We will investigate and let you know when the service is or will be back up.