FoodLegal Bulletin, June-July 2011

A Tale of Two Governments: Planning from Paddock to Plate but Sorting out their Spin from Their Spoon FREE Show More Info
By Joe Lederman

FoodLegal Lawyers and Consultants
© Lawmedia Pty Ltd, June – July 2011

The Queensland and Federal Governments are each working on separate strategies for food security planning from paddock to plate. While it appears that the Queensland initiative has little to do with the Federal government’s National Food Plan, there are many factors that may stand in the way of success. In this article, I discuss what is happening, who is doing what, and raise questions as to whether the proposed planning is addressing the real problems.

Current Developments in Food Law and Policy in Australia and Elsewhere FREE Show More Info
- Push for more Government intervention on fast food advertising to children
- Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Agency created
- New Primary Production and Processing Standard for Eggs and Egg Products
- Truth in Labelling - Palm Oil Bill (Private Member’s Bill) passed by Senate despite contrary Committee recommendations
- Australian regulators issue assurances as European E.coli outbreak continues
- ACCC set to continue to allow collective bargaining by dairy farmers
- New food labelling laws introduced in the EU
- South Australia looks to introduce voluntary origin scheme
- Live export to Indonesia sparks wider debates

FSANZ proposes important maintenance changes to the Food Standards Code Show More Info
On 13 May 2011, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) announced that it has approved the proposed draft variations to Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Food Standards Code) arising from Proposal P1013 – Code Maintenance IX. The Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council (the Ministerial Council) has 60 days to accept or request changes to the FSANZ draft amendments. This article highlights many of the amendments so that food suppliers and manufacturers can stay abreast of changes that could affect their products.

We would like to acknowledge and thank FoodLegal’s food chemist Tony Zipper for various helpful suggestions to the co-authors in relation to this article.

Slimming Claims and Substantiation of Weight Loss Claims Show More Info
This article examines some of the key legal issues surrounding weight-related health claims, and compares the approaches taken by Australian and EU regulators, particularly in relation to the level of scientific evidence needed to substantiate weight-related health claims. We also consider products where weight-related claims can create legal exposures under the Therapeutic Goods Act and Australian Consumer Law regimes respectively.

Plastics in Food: Natural Migration or Border Jumping Show More Info
The timing of a recent major plasticizer contamination of foods in Taiwan (albeit another instance of deliberate fraudulent substitution of a food ingredient by an illegal non-food substance on a massive scale) happened to coincide with the release of a FSANZ survey on the issue chemical migration from packaging materials to food. This article examines important scientific, regulatory and legal issues concerning chemical compounds in packaging materials being present in food.

European E.coli puts spotlight on Australian horticultural regulation and practices - Irradiation no longer old hat Show More Info
This article examines the recent E.coli outbreak in Europe and regulatory matters concerning the food safety of fresh fruit and vegetable produce – firstly, the newly released FSANZ Consultation Paper on fresh horticultural produce, proposed as a food safety standard for the Australian industry, and whether the usage of irradiation technology could be revisited as part of this process.