CHOICE launches ‘Shame the Claim’ campaign against “misleading labels”
Australia’s main consumer advocacy group CHOICE has launched a nation-wide campaign against food product labels which carry misleading nutrition claims.
It has called on Australian consumers to identify products with claims about ‘reduced fat,’ ‘low carb’ and ‘high in fibre’.
CHOICE is calling for consumers to become actively involved in ‘Shame the Claim’ searches. This is the latest move in CHOICE’s on-going campaign against nutrition claims on food product labels in Australia that CHOICE feels are being over-used in a selective way that does not reveal the full picture about the less healthy nutrients in the same product.
To illustrate these types of nutrition claims, CHOICE picked a selection of supermarket products which carry some of the more common nutrition claims and analysed them against Traffic Light nutritional criteria.
CHOICE believes all food products that carry a nutrition or health claim should comply with an agreed nutrient profiling system. This system makes an overall calculation based on the healthy and unhealthy attributes of a product. The overall score determines whether a product is healthy enough to carry a claim.
Consumers are asked to send in examples of products that carry misleading nutrition and health claims. CHOICE will then create a ‘Wall of Shame’ to present to Australia’s governments.
CHOICE spokesperson Ingrid Just said, “Australians are being confused by nutrition claims. Supermarket aisles are littered with products that make ‘99% fat free’ or ‘high in protein’ claims which are often a cover for their high sugar content. Similarly, claims like ‘source of wholegrains’, or ‘low sugar’ may be drawing attention away from a product’s high saturated fat levels.
CHOICE is calling for stronger government action. Between now and the end of the year, the government has a “once in a generation opportunity” to act on the Blewett Food Labelling Review Panel’s recommendations, according to Ms Just.
I have concerns about a number of products, all which may be given to children, or even aimed at children, that contain artificial preservatives or artificial sweeteners known to add to the problems of ADD, ADHD, and Cancer and Leukaemia in children, and contributes to cancer etc., in adults. They are:- (1) soft drinks (except red coke), – (2) fruit juice in children’s bottles, and other packaging (Golden Circle, Berri, and a few others never use 200 series petro-derived preservatives). – (3) margarine, butter/oil blend spreads, (one brand of Pres-free brands of butter/oil blends Woolworths withdrew from shelves, leaving toxic brands alone) – (4) bread products. – And many more foods are too numerous to mention. NOTE that when first mooted, 200 series Benzoid preservatives were considered marginally safe for use in ONLY 10 food types, but today there are hundreds using this toxic chemical in everyday multi-use-per-day foods and drinks. USA and UK, as well as many European countries have BANNED many foods containing such toxins, while Australia is a dumping ground for them. We have NEVER seen such a high incidence of cancer and other diseases here before.