Nutrition Claims Proposal

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) invites written submissions on matters relevant to the issues in the Consultation Paper on Proposal P293 – Nutrition, Health & Related Claims, to be made to FSANZ by 6pm (Canberra time) 15 May 2009.

This Paper is related to the Final Assessment Report for this Proposal which includes the draft Standard 1.2.7 (Nutrition, Health and Related Claims). The Final Assessment Report was approved by the FSANZ Board in March 2008 and as a result the draft Standard is now open to public review through the Consultation Paper.The Report proposes changes to the current situation of Nutrition Claims including:

• a revised approach for the regulation of general level health claims; and
• revision of the text and structure of draft Standard 1.2.7 for the purpose of improving clarity.

The Report recommends that the current approach of industry proven general level health claims be changed to an approach where general level health claims are only permitted if they refer to a food-health relationship listed in the draft Standard, and meet other relevant conditions as required.

As this is a dramatic change and is obviously complex, FSANZ is trying to clarify, simplify and improve the ease of use of the proposed Standard1.2.7. The Consultation Paper contains the revised proposed draft Standard 1.2.7 and also the consequential amendments that are necessary as a result of Standard 1.2.7.

There are variations to the material and it is strongly recommended that the Explanatory Notes prepared by FSANZ should be read, as well as these explain the intent of each of the clauses of the draft Standard 1.2.7.

This Standard will affect many food businesses and therefore, FSANZ invites public comment on this Consultation Paper and the draft variations to the Code by 15 May 2009 for the purpose of preparing the First Review Report for Proposal P293.

Questions relating to making submissions or the application process can be directed to the Standards Management Officer at standards.management@foodstandards.gov.au.

If you are unable to submit your submission electronically, hard copy submissions may be sent to the following address in Australia:

Food Standards Australia New Zealand Food Standards Australia New Zealand
PO Box 7186
Canberra BC ACT 2610

The information above was sourced from a Press Release from FSANZ and more information can be found at www.foodstandards.gov.au