FSANZ to advance nutrition labelling with a focus on consumers

Published

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is set to progress a package of work on nutrition labelling standards to better support consumers to make informed and healthy dietary choices.

Australian and New Zealand food ministers recently agreed to FSANZ scoping work to improve front- and back-of-pack nutrition information labelling and finalising alcohol labelling proposals.

FSANZ will begin preparatory work to support mandating the front-of-pack Health Star Rating (HSR) system should industry not meet voluntary uptake targets. The work will inform future decisions by food ministers on the HSR and support efficient implementation if the system is mandated.

HSR work will be undertaken in parallel with scoping of a holistic review of the nutrition information panel (NIP) found on the back of packaged foods. Any review would be the first for the NIP in over 20 years, supporting optimised nutrition information labelling for consumers.

FSANZ will advance work on two alcohol labelling proposals while undertaking HSR and NIP review scoping activities.

Proposal P1059 – Energy labelling on alcoholic beverages is examining options for the declaration of energy content information in a prescribed format on the label of packaged alcoholic beverages. If approved, the labelling will allow consumers to compare the kilojoule content of alcoholic beverages, just like they can for food products.

Proposal P1049 – Carbohydrate and sugar claims on alcoholic beverages seeks to clarify existing Food Standards Code permissions for nutrition content claims about carbohydrate and sugar on alcohol.

FSANZ CEO Dr Sandra Cuthbert welcomed food ministers agreeing to the labelling work package.

“FSANZ’s Consumer Insights Tracker identified Australian and New Zealand consumers are looking to make healthy food choices, and they rely on food labels to help them do that,” Dr Cuthbert said.

“The work on HSR and the NIP provides a unique opportunity to consider how nutrition labelling on the front and back of packaged food can be enhanced to better provide consumers with the information they need to make healthy choices.

“We look forward to working closely with food regulation system stakeholders as we progress work on HSR and the NIP.”

Public consultation on both alcohol labelling proposals has been completed, with the FSANZ Board expected to consider the proposals in late 2024 or early 2025.

Consumer research undertaken to support food ministers’ consideration of labelling work is now available on the FSANZ website.

More information

​Media contact