FoodLegal Bulletin, May 2011

Welcome to our May 2011 issue of FoodLegal Bulletin.

On 6 May 2011, the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council met in Canberra. The discussion focused on caffeinated foods and beverages, as well as infant formula products, mandatory fortification of wheat flour, voluntary food safety performance reporting and matters raised by the recent Blewett Review.

• FSANZ set to lower minimum alcohol content for wine
• Japanese food imports subject to further testing following nuclear incident but not nearby third countries
• Meat industry questions implication of hormone claims
• The end of the interim period for Australia’s safety policy on the mad cow disease
• FSANZ set to introduce amendments to the Application Handbook
• Recent findings by researchers of serious contaminants in infant foods

This speech was given by Dr Christopher Reynolds at FoodLegal's "Blewett Between the Lines" symposium in Sydney on 28 March 2011. 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the author’s, and not necessarily those of the members of the Blewett Panel of which the author Dr Chris Reynolds was a member.

Recent studies have shown that health-oriented monikers have significant influence on consumer psychology. Our article “The implications of research findings about health-oriented monikers or pseudonyms for a health-food environment” examines academic research about consumer perceptions and its food regulatory policy implications. 

This article contrasts the different approaches to Country of Origin labelling (CoOL) in Australia and New Zealand and the changes proposed by the Blewett Review and the problems likely to arise from some of the proposals. While mandatory CoOL is too tempting for Australian policy makers’ to resist, this article explains where mandatory and voluntary CoOL systems have their strengths and weaknesses.

A recent decision by the European Parliament to ban meat binding agents – substances used by the meat industry to join together smaller pieces of raw meat – has brought to light some concerns. This article examines these international developments and the existing requirements for meat binding agents in Australia.

This article compares some of the recommendations of the Blewett Panel Report for greater legibility and presentation of food labels against existing food regulations.