Food Labelling Review

....> survey ....> background ....> issues worth addressing

What are you eating? How do you know?

The review of Australia's food labeling laws is underway with submissions due Friday, 14th May. There are many issues that can be addressed, including labelling of genetically modified food, palm oil, country of origin labelling, animal welfare, trans-fats, and seafood labelling. The role of the Ethical Consumer Group is to provide more information on the wider impacts of everyday purchases and provide information on alternatives to minimise these impacts. In the light of this, we see transparency about products and processes as primary in allowing consumers to make informed and responsible decisions as to a best purchase according to what they value. This includes: what's in a product where it's components are from, (and where manufacturing/assembly took place) what processes were involved who were responsible for these processes

Survey

We've put together a survey to assess what are the important issues for you in making an informed choice about your food purchases. This will form part of our submission.

Please take a minute to fill in our survey.

See below for background on the review, and some bullet points worth raising in making your own submission on the issues that are of concern to you.

 

Background

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council (Ministerial Council) have agreed to undertake a comprehensive review of food labelling law and policy.

This Review will play an important role both for consumers who are looking for clarity in labelling and industry who are looking for certainty about their roles and responsibilities. All Stakeholders are encouraged to take this opportunity to make a written submission. This Review is chaired by Dr Neal Blewett AC. See Terms of Reference and details here: http://www.foodlabellingreview.gov.au/internet/foodlabelling/publishing.nsf/Content/home

The Independent Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy draft report is on their website at:http://www.foodlabellingreview.gov.au/internet/foodlabelling/publishing.nsf/Content/pubsreports.

Contact the Review by emailing FoodLabellingReview@health.gov.au
The closing date for emailed, written and online submissions is Friday 14 May 2010.

 

Issues worth addressing

1. Country of Origin
2. Palm oil
3. Genetic Engineering
4. Animal welfare
5. Transfats
6. Seafood
7. Nutrition - health
8. Brand owner
9. Full product ingredient disclosure
10. Further information resource
    

 

1. Country of Origin Labelling

'where its made, where ingredients are sourced from'
concerns foodmiles, supporting local jobs & industry, labour & health standards

Presently consumers generally associate 'country of origin labelling' (CoOL) with where the ingredients have come from rather than where the food was made. Presently CoOL incorporates these two components into one label. This is not useful in conveying transparency and product tracibility, which is what many consumers are actively seeking.

Some possible ways to address this:

• giving clarrity to each of these areas by stating the percentage that fulfills the claim (to nearest 10%)
• introducing state as well as the country label (and the region where claim of 'locally grown' is used')

  ie. 80% Made in Victoria, Australia; from 20% local and 80% imported ingredients

> more about this issue on our issues page 'Buying local – good food mileage'

 

2. Palm oil

'in many ingredients, unlabelled'
concerns destruction of habitat for orangutans

Presently palm oil can be listed in the ingredients list as ‘vegetable oil’. Palm oil is in one in four food products that we buy. Most of the global supply comes from Indonesia and Malaysia – where rainforests are being cleared for oil palm plantations with burning of cleared areas results in significant greenhouse gas emissions and loss of habitat for orangutans, and other endangered species.

Australians should be able to choose whether their purchases contribute to the loss of an eco-system and species such as the Orang-utan. Labelling palm-oil helps to show which food manufacturers are not purchasing ethical sources of palm-oil. Labelling will help drive a market for a sustainable palm-oil industry that considers the needs of people and wildlife.

Some possible ways to address this:

• compulsory labelling of palm oil for all food products (and other product types too).

> more about this issue on our issues page 'Palm oil'

 

3. Genetic Engineering

Presenty labelling allows for food made from animals fed with Genetic Engineering (GE) feed (meat, milk, eggs, honey) and highly refined ingredients (cooking oils, sugars, starches) and foods unintentionally contaminated by up to 1% per ingredient, as excempt from labelling as GE.

Some possible ways to address this:

• All foods derived from GE crops must be clearly labelled, including highly processed products such as oils, starches and sugars from GE crops; and meat, milk, cheese and eggs from animals fed GE feed.
• GE crops should only be approved if they are proven to be safe 'beyond reasonable doubt' using evidence from independent, long-term, published studies - measuring indicators relevant to human health.

> see further resources to assist with labelling submissions on GE here.
> more about this issue on our issues page 'Genetic Engineering'

 

4. Animal welfare

Presently animal-derived food products are labelled with a confusing, poorly defined and unregulated labelling terms, including: caged / battery eggs; barn laid eggs; freerange, open-range or range eggs; grain fed; bred free-range; organic and bio-dynamic. None of these terms have a nationally consistent legal definition, or enforceable
standards. A suite of voluntary standards and third party certification schemes of varying regulation have resulted in the big producers redefining the terms to suit themselves.

Some possible ways to address this:

• introduction of mandatory labelling of the production method of animal-derived food products
• first involving defined standards, modelled on existing voluntary standards such as FREPA (eggs)
• then an audit system to enforce standards.

See http://www.hsi.org.au/editor/assets/admin/Labelling_policy_Aug08.pdf for further resources and details.

> more about this issue on our issues page 'Factory farming'

 

5. Transfats

Presently Trans fats are found in foods that contain hydrogenated oils, usually added to make fried food crisper, and has been linked to several health concerns including increased LDL (bad) cholesterol and an increase in heart disease risk. Denmark banned food with more than 2 percent trans fats two years ago, but thus far has been the only country to impose such a severe restriction. Labelling of transfats would encourage manufacturers to seek substitutes. Cheap food ingredients are seen as good for the economy, at the expense of the public's health.

Some possible ways to address this:

• Label all transfats.

 

6. Seafood labelling

Presently many different names for the same fish are used. Consumers have no way to identify clearly the type of fish, where it was caught, or the fishing method used - all necessary in choosing a purchase that is more or is less sustainable.

Some possible ways to address this:

• all point-of-sale and package labelling of seafood and seafood products to be labelled in accordance with the Australian Fish Names Standard.
• The catch area, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) spelled out in words (not as a number), and the name of the stock where each species contained in the product came from (e.g. Georges Bank stock)
• the production method (‘wild caught’) for each seafood species contained in the product
• the gear type (e.g. trawl) and exact fishing method (e.g. bottom otter trawl or mid-water trawl; purse seining or purse seine with fish aggregation device) used for each seafood species contained in the product.

> see further resources to assist with labelling submissions on Seafood here.

 

7. Nutrition - health

Presently excessive sugar, fat and salt all play a part in ongoing health problems for a growing number of people.

Some possible ways to address this:

• we support the traffic light labeling system for an at-a-glance indication of sugar, salt, fat content in a product, recently introduced in the UK. http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/trafficlights/ This is a way to encourge manufactures to reduce these components in their foods.
• consistency with method for labelling additive numbers. Use name or number, both not both.

> more about this issue on our issues page 'Food Additives'

 

8. Brand owner

Presently although there are often many companies associated with a product, including the brand owner, or owners, the manufacturer, distributor, importer or trademark licensee, these companies and their parent companies, are not listed on the label.

Some possible ways to address this:

• as a minimum, specify the manufacturer of the product and the brand owner, with both their parent companies if different from primary company. Additonally, with the country where they are based.

> more about this issue on our issues page 'Multinational Monopoly'

 

9 Full product ingredient disclosure

Presently manufacturers can use catch-all "ingredients" that do not to tell consumers what is in the products - "fragrance," "spices," etc.

Some possible ways to address this:

• complete accounting of all ingredients in product.
• all front of package promotional terms and claims must be supported by the information contained in the ingredients list. eg. If the claim is "No trans fats" then there must be NO hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list..
• introduce percentages for top 3 items in ingredient list.

  eg. corn 50%, wheat 40%, malt 10%, etc. or corn 90%, wheat 5%, malt 5%, etc. (in this case we'd know if majority of the product is wheat or just small amount).
  

   

10. Further information resource

Additonally we recommend all claims made on a product label are further explained on a company website or other independent publically accessible resource. This will encourage disclosure and be a means for the public to be able to scrutinise the integrity of a claim and specifics of what a label means.