Ministers agree to revised definition of added sugars for claims
20 February 2024
Background
The Food Ministers’ Meeting (FMM) on Friday 1 December agreed to changes to the Food Standards Code (the Code) incorporating a revised definition of added sugars (P1062). According to the Communique, this will support work to ensure that ‘no added sugar’ claims align with dietary guidelines. Following gazettal, there will be a 4-year transition period for the changes to conditions for ‘no added sugar(s)’ and ‘unsweetened’ nutrition content claims (and synonyms). Product categories that are most likely to be affected are fruit and fruit and vegetable juice blends, canned and frozen fruits, puréed fruit products, breakfast cereals and fruit bread if they exceed the threshold.
Ministers noted that while some infant foods, such as pureed fruit products, will be captured by changes made in Proposal P1062, issues remain in ensuring consumers have the information they need to make healthy choices when buying infant foods, and the composition of infant food is held to standards that ensure they meet the public expectations. Ministers have committed to undertake further work to address these issues and to consider them out-of-session.
An issues paper on the improvement of commercial foods for infants and toddlers was also discussed at the FMM. The paper describes commercial foods for infants and young children as being poorly aligned with some aspects of the Australian and New Zealand Infant and Toddler Feeding Guidelines. Ministers agreed to progress a consultation paper as a matter of priority on options to improve commercial foods for infants and children in Australia and New Zealand in the first quarter of 2024.
Please note that the Healthy Food Partnership formed a Food for Early Childhood Reference Group which is developing a voluntary guide to the industry to improve the marketing, labelling, packaging and composition of these foods The AFGC and some of its members are representatives on this group.
AFGC Position
The AFGC is disappointed with the decision made by FMM to not request a review of the draft standard incorporating of a definition of added sugars in the Code. This is due to our concerns around the inadequate stakeholder consultation, and potential conflicts with a concurrent proposal (P1058) that is addressing the definition of added sugar for mandatory labelling in the nutrition information panel (NIP).
The 4-year transition period for the changes to the definition of added sugar for claims (under P1062) to apply is in recognition that further changes are likely through the separate FSANZ process of defining added sugar for the NIP. The AFGC will continue strongly advocating for a pragmatic definition of added-sugar labelling in the NIP as part of P1058 and keep members abreast of developments.
Contact
For more information on any aspects of the FSANZ proposals P1058 and P1062 please contact Anne-Marie Mackintosh, Associate Director – Nutrition and Regulation by email anne-marie.mackintosh@afgc.org.au or mobile 0448 170 568.
