Health food and breakfast cereal giant Sanitarium has announced its own traffic light labelling system, the Healthy Eating System, which it says goes beyond basic traffic light labels to include highlights of positive and negative nutrients and frequency of consumption. Sanitarium’s Science & Technical Manager, Dr Greg Gambrill, said the aim of any Front-of-Pack Labelling should be to improve eating habits in line with public health policy initiatives as identified in the recent Blewett... ...Read more »

SA Health Minister John Hill has announced moves to require all major fast food retailers in South Australia to display kilojoule information on their menu boards, websites, leaflets and menus. The new regulations (under the Food Act 2001) would require food chains with 20 or more stores in SA, or 50 or more stores nationally, to state the kilojoule content of each item clearly and legibly alongside the price of the product, as well as prominently featuring the average adult daily energy intake of... ...Read more »

The health implications of caffeinated energy drinks, improvement of public awareness of the nutrition content of take away food and recent international developments and efforts made by Australian and New Zealand industry in phasing out the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) chemicals in baby bottles and food containers were among a range of food and beverage topics discussed at a meeting of the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council (Ministerial Council) held in Adelaide on Friday. The... ...Read more »

Queensland Deputy Premier and Minister for Health Paul Lucas tabled an agenda paper at a Ministerial Meeting in Adelaide on Friday, calling for a nationally consistent plan for reducing intakes of energy, saturated fat, sugar and salt from fast food. Lucas said it was time to get serious about developing a national approach to the issue. “In 2009, 1.6 billion meals were served by fast food outlets in Australia. Alarmingly, that means 4.5 million Australians visited a fast food outlet every day,”... ...Read more »

New South Wales Premier Kristina Kenneally yesterday announced that menus for fast-food outlets across NSW will be required to display kilojoule information on their printed and menu boards, as of February 1st 2011. Businesses such as major fast food, bakery, coffee and doughnut chains will now be required to ‘clearly and legibly’ display the kilojoule content on their menu board, as well as prominently featuring the average adult daily energy intake of 8700 kilojoules. The kilojoule... ...Read more »

A leading US health body, the Institute of Medicine, yesterday called for front-of-pack labelling focussing on saturated fat, trans fat, sodium and total caloric information.A report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) said the four nutrient elements were routinely overconsumed and associated most strongly with diet-related health problems such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. “Calories, saturated fat, trans fats, and sodium present... ...Read more »

Diet and exercise have long been the top two elements of effective weight loss. Now add a third: reading the labels on packaged foods. Washington State University Economist Bidisha Mandal has found that middle-aged Americans who want to lose weight and who take up the label-reading habit are more likely to lose weight than those who don’t. In some cases, label reading is even more effective than exercise. “I’m finding that reading labels is useful,” said Mandal, an assistant... ...Read more »

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally yesterday convened the NSW Government’s fast food forum, which includes key policy makers, health representatives, consumer advocates, and fast food producers, manufacturers and suppliers, to discuss food content, labelling and point-of-sale nutritional information. “I would like to thank both health and consumer advocates, and the fast food industry for participating in today’s NSW fast food forum,” Keneally said. “This is a great opportunity to work with... ...Read more »

Victorian fast-food and chain food businesses will be required to put nutritional information on their menus by 2012. Premier John Brumby today announced that all food businesses with 50 or more Victorian outlets, or more than 200 outlets nationwide, would be required to display kilojoule counts next to all food and drink items on menus, as well as including a daily intake statement on all printed menus and menu boards. “This new kilojoule or calorie count will give all Victorians the latest information... ...Read more »

American food advertising shows grossly distorted nutritional patterns, according to a study by the Armstrong Atlantic State University. Researchers documented food advertisiments on primetime and Saturday-morning television across four networks, analysing each promoted item for nutritional content and portion size. “The results of this study suggest the foods advertised on television tend to oversupply nutrients associated with chronic illness (eg, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium) and... ...Read more »