FSANZ outlines position on palm oil
Australia’s food regulatory body has rejected a call for food manufacturers to name the source of vegetable oil in their products.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) said this week that a number of people had contacted them to request the labelling of palm oil in food products due to concern regarding the destruction of native rainforest habitat for orangutans – this has occurred in some parts of the world as a result of an expansion of farmed palm oil plantations.
Current food labelling regulations do not require the naming of the specific source of an oil, such as palm oil, and a generic name such as ‘vegetable oil’ can be used, the food standards body reported.
“We previously considered an application requesting a mandatory labelling requirement for palm oil and, after careful consideration, decided to reject it. Our food regulations do not extend to environmental issues,” FSANZ said. “If you wish to avoid the consumption of palm oil you can contact food manufacturers for information on the source of the vegetable oil.”
FSANZ added that food manufacturers were welcome to voluntarily include environmental information on the labels of their products if they believe there is a demand for such information.
I would have thought that if people want to make informed decisions about what they eat, FSANZ doesn’t need to make distinctions about why that may be. As I understand it, palm oil is not all that fabulously good for people to eat, notwithstanding concerns about animal habitats etc. After all, we demand to know where our food is grown/raised and the reasons for that could be economic discrimination as much as concerns about farming practices that directly affect the hygiene/toxicity of foods. Considering how contentious peanut oil and soy oil can be for allergics and how people object on various grounds to the GM practices that affect soy and canola oil it makes sense that all oils be labelled allowing consumers to decide.
This is absolute madness.
My daughter (11 year old Isabella Wilson) has fought to stop products even suspected to contain Palm Oil not to be sold in her school tuck shop and has won that fight!
You would think that a body such as the FSANZ would see this as making positive steps toward a better planet!. Not to mention that the food company’s must be able to see that not using Palm Oil from sustainable sources is actually a positive green marketing tool.
Wouldn’t it be great if those food companies that were not using non sustainable palm oil made a stand and advertised it like LUSH who now refuse to use any palm oil, sustainable or not, until such a time as the round table can enforce the necessary changes!!
Consumers please fight back. Demand that manufacturers label their food. And shame on you FSANZ for not helping!!
Concerned greenie and proud Mum of NZ’s Young Conservationist
Kate Wilson
I can’t believe this response! Why doesn’t our food labelling extend to environmental issues???? this isn’t the time to be slow about making positive changes Australia!
Just ridiculous, what are these people thinking. People have the right to know if its palm oil. Look what happened to Cadbury, they listened and took action. I can’t believe they took this action!!
It is my right to know what I am eating. All ‘vegetable oils’ should state which vegetable is used. Please reconsider and use the correct name of ingredients.
This falls a long way short of the US Code of Federal Regulations which require oil mixtures to be listed by contents.
See 21CFR101.4(14) below.
But then, the FDA is like a combination of the TGA and FSANZ. If (hypothetically) food was regulated in Australia by a body like the TGA then I doubt that food manufacturers would be able to get away not listing their ingredients on the label.
US FDA 21CFR101.4
(14) Each individual fat and/or oil ingredient of a food intended for human consumption shall be declared by its specific common or usual name (e.g., “beef fat”, “cottonseed oil”) in its order of predominance in the food except that blends of fats and/or oils may be designated in their order of predominance in the foods as “___ shortening” or “blend of ___ oils”, the blank to be filled in with the word “vegetable”, “animal”, “marine”, with or without the terms “fat” or “oils”, or combination of these, whichever is applicable if, immediately following the term, the common or usual name of each individual vegetable, animal, or marine fat or oil is given in parentheses, e.g., “vegetable oil shortening (soybean and cottonseed oil)”. For products that are blends of fats and/or oils and for foods in which fats and/or oils constitute the predominant ingredient, i.e., in which the combined weight of all fat and/or oil ingredients equals or exceeds the weight of the most predominant ingredient that is not a fat or oil, the listing of the common or usual names of such fats and/or oils in parentheses shall be in descending order of predominance. In all other foods in which a blend of fats and/or oils is used as an ingredient, the listing of the common or usual names in parentheses need not be in descending order of predominance if the manufacturer, because of the use of varying mixtures, is unable to adhere to a constant pattern of fats and/or oils in the product. If the fat or oil is completely hydrogenated, the name shall include the term hydrogenated, or if partially hydrogenated, the name shall include the term partially hydrogenated. If each fat and/or oil in a blend or the blend is completely hydrogenated, the term “hydrogenated” may precede the term(s) describing the blend, e.g., “hydrogenated vegetable oil (soybean, cottonseed, and palm oils)”, rather than preceding the name of each individual fat and/or oil; if the blend of fats and/or oils is partially hydrogenated, the term “partially hydrogenated” may be used in the same manner. Fat and/or oil ingredients not present in the product may be listed if they may sometimes be used in the product. Such ingredients shall be identified by words indicating that they may not be present, such as “or”, “and/or”, “contains one or more of the following:”, e.g., “vegetable oil shortening (contains one or more of the following: cottonseed oil, palm oil, soybean oil)”. No fat or oil Fingredient shall be listed unless actually present if the fats and/or oils constitute the predominant ingredient of the product, as defined in this paragraph (b)(14).
Look who sits on the board for FSANZ – the Board of FSANZ has a serious issue with independence as many of their Directors are previously or currently associated with the food industry, through either previous employment roles or current consulting assignments which are not clear. This does not help independent decision making and their should be a further investigation here.
Here are just some of the obvious directors that stand out – :
Dr Michele Allan
Dr Michele Allan…… has strong leadership experience across many facets of the food industry including a CEO position in a publically listed food company.
Professor Katrine Baghurst
……..currently works as a Nutrition Consultant……… guess who hires her?
Mr Peter Boyden
Mr Peter Boyden ….. is an internationally experienced CEO with extensive general management and marketing experience gained in consumer foods businesses ……. His most recent role was Managing Director and regional Board member of the Unilever Australasian foods business….
Mr Tony Nowell
Mr Tony Nowell……. He was previously the CEO of Zespri International, the world’s leading marketer of kiwifruit, and prior to that Managing Director of Griffin’s Foods Limited, New Zealand’s market leading biscuit & snack food manufacturer…… From 1997 to 1999, he was the Regional Vice President of Sara Lee Asia and prior to this the Zone Manager for Sara Lee …………….
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