Govt urged to make healthy food labelling a reality
The slow progress to introduce improved food labelling aimed at assisting consumers to
easily make healthy food choices continues to cause significant concern for the Australian
Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA).
“The release of the Report of the Blewett Review of Food Labelling Law & Policy provides
an important opportunity for governments to seize the momentum and public interest
created by this review,” said Ms Cydde Miller, the AHHA’s Policy and Networks Manager.
“Lifestyle related diseases pose an ever increasing burden on our healthcare system.
Improved food labelling should be pursued as a priority so that consumers can make
informed healthy choices.
“Consumers depend on the food industry to supply and promote healthy foods. However,
the public is bombarded with conflicting messages and claims about food and nutrition which
results in confusion.
“Implementing food labelling that provides information that is clear, simple and easily
understood by all the population, and that also ensures that consumers are not misled by
claims made on food, can significantly assist the public make appropriate healthy food
choices.
“The AHHA strongly supports the recommendations of the Blewett Review that affirm the
fundamental goal of food labelling as being to protect public health, not only in terms of
immediate, acute food safety but also in the area of preventative health,” said Ms Miller.
The AHHA recommends that Governments agree:
to adopt the principles articulated in the Review as the fundamental policy that will
underpin food labelling in Australia;
that government intervention is warranted to regulate food labelling to protect public
health and provide nutrition information that is clear, simple and easily understood by
all the population;
to introduce on packaged foods:
o a multiple traffic lights front-of-pack labelling system;
o the mandatory declaration in the Nutritional Information Panel of all trans fatty
acids above an agreed threshold;
to introduce on menus/menu boards at chain food service outlets:
o the declaration of energy content of standardised food items;
o display of the multiple traffic light system; and
that monitoring and enforcement of food labelling should be resourced appropriately
as a priority.
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