Choice slams AFGC on labelling delays

The long-running battle over devising a front-of-pack labelling system for packaged foods in Australia has flared up again, with consumer group Choice accusing the food industry of undermining a five star front-of-pack food labelling system agreed to earlier this year.

The five star scheme, approved in principle by federal and state health and agricultural ministers at a Sydney meeting in June this year (Packagingnews.com.au, 14 June), uses a five star rating system to give consumers an overall indication of a food’s nutritional quality.

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) at the time expressed misgivings at the scheme, which is due to go into operation in mid-2014, saying it placed a heavy burden on the food industry to implement.

It called on governments, consumer groups and the industry to do further work on the formula.

Choice, however, has released a statement claiming the food industry is working against the scheme.

“We spent two years negotiating this new system with the food industry, represented by the Australian Food and Grocery Council,” Choice CEO, Alan Kirkland said in the statement.

“The new system incorporates a number of concessions sought by the AFGC but now it has turned around and launched a fierce campaign against the very system it helped to develop.”

The AFGC, however, told PKN it is still involved in committees tasked with creating an algorithm that will be used to assign stars to products.

An AFGC spokesperson told PKN that Choice's claims were unsubstantiated. "The AFGC is committed to establishing a front of pack system that's meaningful to consumers," he said.

Kirkland, however, said that food manufacturers are worried that the scheme would "show shoppers the truth about some of their best selling products".

“The board of the AFGC includes some of the world’s biggest food companies - like Kellogg, Simplot and Campbell Arnotts. We should not allow companies such as these to dictate our domestic food policy,” he said.

According to Choice, front of pack negotiations with the AFGC were premised on the removal of the industry-run Daily Intake Guide which it said was flawed. However, the AFGC is now fighting to make it part of the new labelling system, the consumer organisation says.