The Australian Food and Grocery Council has responded negatively to the decision by Australian federal and state health ministers to green light a new front-of-pack star system for food nutritional labelling.
A new five star rating system for food nutrition to go on the front of packaging was been approved by state and federal health and agriculture ministers at a meeting in Sydney today.
The labelling system, which will initially be voluntary, rates foods from half-a-star to five stars, based on nutritional value.
AFGC CEO Mr Gary Dawson said that it was unfortunate that the announcement had been rushed out by the federal government without any cost benefit analysis or evidence that it will achieve the outcomes it is seeking.
“The AFGC and the food processing sector is willing to remain engaged in the development of the front-of-pack labelling (FoPL) scheme, but a number of outstanding issues will need to be resolved in order to effectively implement an easily understood labelling system to promote healthy, balanced diets,” Dawson said.
“Industry believes that there are still significant problems with the proposal but we are committed to working through them to see if a workable solution can be found.”
He also said the food industry would face the cost burden of implementing the changes, expected to be on the front of food packaging by mid-2014.
“The food industry is expected to carry the $200 million cost of implementing this scheme while also dealing with an additional regulatory burden," he said.
"If industry is going to make this investment in a new FoPL system, it must be based on sound and credible science, effective in communicating with consumers and practical and attractive for industry to implement.”
He urged more work to be done to address potential flaws in the plan.
“An effective FoPL system will need to resolve issues such as how the star system is calculated to avoid anomalous ratings that will undermine the credibility of the scheme and potentially mislead consumers," Dawson said.
"It will also need to address whether there will be substantial funds to educate consumers on how to use the labelling for healthy diet selection and if the government is prepared to undertake a robust and credible cost-benefit analysis.
“Extensive international scientific literature has demonstrated that informative elements such as Daily Intake Guide (DIG) are an essential part of any effective front-of-pack labelling scheme to enable consumers to identify healthier choices.
“DIG now has more than 7,200 products, representing a $72 million industry investment that provides consumers accurate and easy to understand information on labels. The wide acceptance of the DIG means that it should remain as a foundation informative element on labels, providing valuable consumer information.”
“Any move to mandate these changes would be a major setback and is certainly inconsistent with the National Food Plan and the Asian Century White Paper that aims to reduce the regulatory burden and enhance export competitiveness of Australia's food processing industry,” Dawson said.
The AFGC's Gary Dawson says the new star rating system for food labelling still had flaws and would be costly for the industry to implement.
