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Watching ‘no added sugars’ in 2024
O
ne of the key outcomes at the latest Food Ministers’ Meeting (FMM), held on Friday, 1 December, was in relation to FSANZ P1062 — Defining added sugars for claims. ‘Proposal P1062 – Defining added sugars for claims’ assessed changes to conditions for making voluntary nutrition content claims about added sugars in food. The FSANZ Board approved the draft standard on 14 November 2023 and it was considered at the FMM. Chaired by the Hon Ged Kearney MP, the FMM comprises Australian and New Zealand ministers responsible for food, with the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Board Chair and CEO also attending to observe the meeting. The FMM decided it will not request a review of the draft standard that will incorporate a definition of added sugars into the Food Standards Code. This will support work on ensuring ‘no added sugar’ claims align with dietary guidelines. Following FSANZ gazettal, there will be a four-year transition period for the changes to claim conditions for ‘no added sugar(s)’ and ‘unsweetened’ nutrition content claims (and synonyms). At gazettal, the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code will be amended to incorporate the revised standard, which will not permit ‘no added sugar(s)’ claims when a food: 10
January/February 2024
• contains, or is, an ‘added sugar’ as defined in the Code • does not contain ‘added sugar’ but contains more sugars (ie, monosaccharides and disaccharides) than: -- 10.0 g /100 g for solid food -- 7.5 g /100 mL for liquid food. The amended standard will: • provide information to consumers to enable them to make informed choices in line with Australian and New Zealand dietary guideline recommendations about added sugars in food; • minimise the risk of consumers being misled about the overall healthiness of products naturally high in sugar; • provide clarity and certainty for industry and government in the implementation and enforcement of the voluntary claims permitted to be made about added sugars in food; • provide a transition period that allows alignment with other currently proposed labelling changes (ie, P1058 – Nutrition labelling about added sugars). While some infant foods will be captured by changes made in Proposal P1062, there are still issues that need to be resolved to ensure consumers have the information to make informed choices when buying infant foods and the composition of infant food is held to standards that meet public expectation. Ministers have committed to undertake further work to address these issues and to consider them out-of-session.
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