One of Australia’s leading public health research bodies, The George Institute, has launched a new smartphone app which gives a Traffic Light rating based on the amount of total fat, saturated fat, sugars and sodium per 100 grams – green for ‘low’, amber for ‘medium’ and red for ‘high’. The new app, called ‘FoodSwitch’, is able to rate 20,000 packaged food products found in Australian supermarkets. The initiative is part of a new partnership with Bupa, one of Australia’s... ...Read more »

Australian and New Zealand ministers today put nutrition and preventative health at the heart of a plan to reform laws on packaged food and drink product labelling in Australia. Ministers met in Melbourne today to consider their response to the recommendations in the Food Labelling Review Report, Labelling Logic (also known as the Blewett report). This was the first meeting of the Legislative and Governance Forum on Food Regulation (Forum). The Forum on Food Regulation replaces the Australia and... ...Read more »

A lack of motivation and attention of consumers prevents nutritional information on food labels from impacting positively on food choices, a European study has found. The study was part of the ‘Food Labelling to Advance Better Education for Life’ (FLABEL) project, which provides research on consumer behaviour and nutrition labels to help guide industry players and policy-makers in Europe. The FLABEL consortium is comprised of academic experts, retailers, and not-for-profit organizations in the... ...Read more »

The Federal Government has announced today that it does not support the Traffic Light labelling system previously recommended by the Blewett Report. However, it does support the report’s recommendation on palm oil labelling in Australia. The Federal Government’s position was released today, ahead of the 9 December meeting of food and health ministers comprising the Australian New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council. Front-of-pack labelling Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon... ...Read more »

Differences in recommended serving sizes on like-for-like Australian food products are making it “near impossible” for shoppers to compare the nutritional content of the products, according to new research by Sydney-based medical research body, The George Institute. The George Institute’s study contained in its ‘Examination of serving sizes of selected food products in Australia’ report, published today, was commissioned by Australian consumer advocacy group CHOICE. The George Institute’s... ...Read more »

Australian public health organisations have co-signed a letter from consumer advocacy group CHOICE, urging Federal Government to adopt the Traffic Light front-of-pack food labelling scheme. Signatories to the letter, sent to the Australian Government’s Ministerial Council responsible for labelling law and policy, include Public Health Association of Australia, Australian Medical Association, Diabetes Australia, Cancer Council Australia, Obesity Policy Coalition, The Australian New Zealand Obesity... ...Read more »

MEPs yesterday voted in favour of new laws on how food is labelled throughout the EU, a move they claimed will benefit both consumers and the food industry.The new regulations will see some changes to the way information on nutrition, country-of-origin and ingredients are displayed on food labels. The vote comes three weeks after the European Parliament and the European Council of Ministers agreed on a final draft of the new labelling laws. German MEP Renate Sommer led the Parliament’s discussions... ...Read more »

Woolworths has announced plans to add Daily Intake Guide information to the front of all of its private label foods Daily Intake Guide thumbnail labels already feature on more than 4000 supermarket products across Australia, and Woolworths said it plans to increase their use to its full range of products within the next 12 months. The move was applauded by the Australian Food and Grocery Council, which has championed the use of DIG labelling over other front-of-pack nutritional labelling styles,... ...Read more »

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 »

A mandatory strategy to phase out junk food in vending machines and canteens through Queensland Health facilities has been slow to take effect, with an evaluation revealing that only one in four facilities have fully complied with the 2007 plan to limit foods with a high sugar, salt and fat content, and 22% implementing less than half the requirements. The plan, which also included fundraising activities and other hospital dining options, was designed to cut obesity and diet-related disease, is based... ...Read more »