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    • Swine Influenza and Food (April 2009)
    • How much sodium and salt are we eating
    • Cereal-based beverages (June 2009)
    • Food irradiation (June 2009)
    • Nutrition Claims (June 2009)
    • Aspartame (July 2009 )
    • Mandatory folic acid fortification in Australia ( July 2009)
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    • How much salt and sodium are we eating - further information (September 2009)
    • Nutrition Claims (October 2009)
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Nutrition Claims

What is a nutrition claim?

Labels on food packages these days carry a variety of nutrition claims, such as ‘low fat’, ‘reduced salt’ or ‘good source of vitamin C’. Essentially nutrition claims highlight a particular nutritional characteristic of the food.

Claims may be about nutrients such as carbohydrate, sugars, starch, protein, amino acids, fat, cholesterol, fatty acids, dietary fibre, salt, sodium, potassium, vitamins, minerals, or other biologically active substances, or other properties such as energy. Biologically active substances are substances, other than traditionally recognised nutrients, that have specific health effects; an example is plant sterols, which help reduce cholesterol absorption.

Many people also use nutrition claims as a general guide to compare two versions of the same type of food. For example, a ‘reduced fat’ cheddar cheese indicates that the particular food displaying the claim is significantly lower in fat than the ‘normal’ or standard version of the cheddar cheese.

While a claim on the front of the package may catch your eye, you should always check the nutrition information panel for more detailed information about other nutrients in the food. For example, while foods carrying ‘reduced fat’ claims may be lower in fat, they may still contain a lot of sugar and/or salt.

For a precise definition of ‘nutrition claim’, look in clause 1 of Standard 1.2.8 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) ( http://www.foodstandards.govt.nz/thecode/foodstandardscode/index.cfm ).

What laws govern nutrition claims?

Manufacturers are not required to make nutrition claims. However if they do, they must follow the requirements in the Code as well as other laws.

The Code defines a nutrition claim, sets rules for certain nutrition claims and prescribes additional labelling requirements when nutrition claims are made (as explained in the next section).

As well as the Code, nutrition claims must also comply with more general laws that govern misleading and deceptive conduct. These laws in Australia include theTrade Practices Act 1974and state and territory Fair Trading and Food Acts. The equivalent in New Zealand is theFair Trading Act 1986. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the New Zealand Commerce Commission administer these respective national laws.

There is also a self-regulated industry Code of Practice on Nutrient Claims in Food Labels and in Advertisements(CoPoNC) in Australia. CoPoNC sets out various rules for most nutrition claims, such as ‘high fibre’, ‘lite’ and ‘no added sugar’. However, as an industry code of practice, CoPoNC is not legally enforceable. A copy of CoPoNC can be found on FSANZ’s website at: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/Code_of_Practice_jan1995.pdf   

What does the Code specifically say about nutrition claims?

In general, when food manufacturers make a nutrition claim, they must declare the amount of the claimed substance per 100 g and per serve in the nutrition information panel (NIP). The Code may also require the declaration of other relevant information in the NIP.

In addition to this, the Code ( clauses 12–17 of Standard 1.2.8 and clauses 4-7 of Standard 1.3.2) has rules which state how much energy or how much of a nutrient has to be contained in a food in order to make a claim about energy or a nutrient. Rules apply to the following:

•  vitamins and minerals
• polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fatty acids
• omega fatty acids
• energy
• lactose
• gluten
• salt, sodium, and potassium.

The User Guide on Nutrition Information Labelling explains the criteria that apply to these nutrients. See: http://www.foodstandards.govt.nz/thecode/industryuserguides/index.cfm .

Is anything likely to change in the future?

In December 2003 the Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council (the Ministerial Council) asked FSANZ to develop a standard to regulate nutrition, health and related claims. In doing so, the Ministerial Council recognised the increasing complexity of the food supply, especially with the appearance of more functional foods, and the benefits of regulating all nutrition and health claims under a unified and mandatory system.

The Ministerial Council provided FSANZ with policy guidelines to help develop a new standard to regulate nutrition and health claims.

We began work on Proposal P293 – Nutrition, Health and Related Claims - in 2004 and have developed a draft Standard. A short guide to this draft Standard was released in 2008 and is available at: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/P293%20FAR%20Short%20Guide.pdf . In particular, pages 17-20 provide a summary on the proposed conditions for nutrition content claims.

However the draft Standard is a working document and will remain subject to change until the Ministerial Council approves it, after which it will be incorporated into the Code.