Health Star Rating

The draft of the new Health Star Rating (HSR) Calculator and Style Guide has been released for comment by the Front-of-Pack Labelling Secretariat with submissions due by the 2 October. The material incorporates guidance on how to calculate the HSR as well as how to present it on-pack (currently there are two separate documents) with the aim to provide greater certainty for stakeholders. This consultation does not provide any opportunity to revisit any decisions already made with respect to HSR System Five Year Review.

It is anticipated that comments will be considered and the final guidance released one month ahead of the implementation start date of 15 November.

The updated calculator will be published on the HSR website shortly.

The AFGC will be providing feedback on the draft guidance and will continue its advocacy efforts. For more information, please contact Geoffrey Annison or Anne-Marie Mackintosh.

FSANZ Act Review

The AFGC has participated in initial meetings with NOUS, the consultancy engaged to facilitate the FSANZ Act Review. A public consultation is expected to commence in October 2020. Members interested to participate in the AFGC’s working group for this advocacy are requested to contact Kim Tonnet.

The Implementation Subcommittee for Food Regulation (ISFR) met on the 19 August and the meeting discussion was focused on supporting governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and progression of the implementation of the Foodborne Illness Reduction Strategy. For more information, please read the meeting outcome notice.

The Food Regulation Standing Committee (FRSC) will meet next on the 8 October. It is understood that FRSC will consider a paper proposing work to be undertaken by FSANZ on the improving compliance with Food Standards Code (FSC) Standard 1.2.7 Nutrition, health and related claims, particularly for self-substantiated claims.

The latest FSANZ Work Plan is here and the outcomes of the September 2020 Board meeting will soon be published here.

The Retailers and Manufacturers Liaison Committee (RMLC) will meet next on the 19 November 2020. For further information and to request agenda items for inclusion, please contact Kim Tonnet.

The FSANZ Branded food database (BFD) Working Group met on the 25 August to continue its work on the proof-of-concept trial of the database and to discuss issues encountered using the data collection template.  Good progress is being made with FSANZ receiving over 500 products across a number of food categories from the industry for the trial. The next phase of the project will be focused on developing detailed specifications followed by procurement and execution of a contract with the preferred tenderer. For more information, contact Anne-Marie Mackintosh.

Following a meeting of the AFGC, New Zealand Food and Grocery Council (NZFGC) and members of the RMLC with FSANZ to discuss concerns regarding its consumer webpage Diet Quality and Processed Foods, specifically the way in which processed foods are depicted using the NOVA classification, a new webpage on Processed foods has been created. The AFGC has provided further feedback requesting changes to both webpages due to the way processed foods are depicted. For more information, contact Anne-Marie Mackintosh.

UPCOMING CONSULTATIONS

Contact Geoffrey Annison to offer comments for possible submission to the Australian Codex office.

JOINT FAO/WHO EXPERT COMMITTEE ON FOOD ADDITIVES (JECFA)
JECFA published its monograph on the residue evaluation of certain veterinary drugs created at the 88th meeting of JECFA, which took place in Rome from October 22-31, 2019. JECFA specifically considered residues of veterinary drugs in food at this meeting. The tasks before the Committee included recommending maximum residue limits (MRLs) and to evaluate the safety of residues of certain veterinary drugs.

WHO TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP (TAG) ON FOOD SAFETY
The WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety has established a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Food Safety. This TAG will advise WHO on current and future challenges along the agri-food supply chain, directions to be prioritised to improve national food safety systems and interventions and activities to improve food safety. The TAG will also advise on the Global Strategy for Food Safety. The TAG has issued a call for experts.

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ORGANISATION (ISO)
The AFGC, with Member support, is participating in the ISO Working Group (WG) for developing a new standard for foods suitable for vegetarians and vegans and claims associated with these foods. For the past nine months, the WG has reviewed the document which specifies technical criteria to all food and beverage companies, applicable to all organisations, regardless of size or complexity. This document is intended for use in business-to-business communications and relationships in the global food supply chain, in international trade of food products and food labelling and claims. The document will be published pending a ballot later this year. For more information, please contact Anne-Marie Mackintosh.
 

INDUSTRIAL CHEMICAL NEWS
The September AICIS newsletter is available here (subscribe for future editions).

Dr Brian Richards is retiring from the role of AICIS Executive Director on the 30 September 2020. Read his departing message. Dr Roshini Jayewardene will act as the Executive Director of AICIS until a new Director is appointed.

The AICIS registration year (for introducers of chemicals) started on 1 September. It is unlawful to import or manufacture industrial chemicals in Australia if you are not registered with AICIS for the 2020-2021 registration year (1 September 2020 – 31 August 2021). Register or renew your registration online through AICIS Business Services. If you were previously registered with NICNAS, you can log in with the same username and password. 

Public reports for new chemical notifications and certificates issued for low volume permits are published here and here.

AICIS has also updated its FAQ page for fragrances (to help with categorisation of chemicals in flavour and fragrance blends).

Accord has published the Hand Sanitiser Industry Benchmark (for non-therapeutic goods) which establishes  an acceptable standard of quality, safety and efficacy for non-therapeutic hand sanitisers, while allowing flexibility for innovation.

TGA NEWS
TGA has cautioned industry regarding making claims about immunity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The FSC Schedule 4 does conditionally allow immune-related claims such as “contributes to normal immune system function”, however any claims implying benefits associated with the novel coronavirus would be non-compliant with the FSC and may attract attention of the TGA (as the regulator of therapeutic claims).

The TGA has published its Therapeutic goods advertising compliance: 2019-20 Annual Report. The report provides information about the TGA's advertising compliance and enforcement work from July 2019 to June 2020.

APVMA NEWS
The latest APVMA Gazette is here and News and Updates are here.

The new Stakeholder Engagement Framework has been published and sets out the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine’s (APVM’s) strategic approach to stakeholder consultation and collaboration for the 2020–23 period. The accompanying Stakeholder Engagement Activities, outlines the events and activities intended for 2020–21.

The Review of agvet chemicals regulatory framework continues and submissions to the issues paper closed on the 28 August 2020. The next steps are for the Review Panel to consider all submissions and develop their recommendations ahead of further consultation on a draft report. The final report is to be delivered to the Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management by May 2021.

ALLERGEN MANAGEMENT NEWS
The AFGC provided further feedback to FSANZ on its latest proposals under P1044 Plain English Allergen Labelling. A copy of the AFGC’s inputs can be found at the Member Centre. The AFGC is pleased to advise that many of its earlier comments on the proposal have been addressed with a satisfactory outcome for stakeholders. The proposal is currently being finalised and will be reviewed by the Board at its December 2020 meeting.

The Allergen Collaboration (hosted by FSANZ and consisting of regulators, industry and consumer advocates) will meet in early October to discuss and progress various Allergen related issues. For more information on this work, please contact Kim Tonnet.

The latest news from the Allergen Bureau is here.

The Allergen Bureau is pleased to announce that the United States (US) legislation allergen list is now available in VITAL® Online. The US legislation was added to VITAL Online effective Tuesday 22nd September 2020.

The National Allergy Strategy has recently updated its food service resources to include information and guidance specifically for food allergen management in hospitals.

TRADE NEWS
The AFGC State of the Industry data report which was launched earlier this month is available on the Members portal of the website.  Members can use this data as required and for further assistance with SOI data, please contact Shalini Valecha, Associate Director Trade and Economics.

Submissions to the 2020 MRL proposal (to align Schedule 20 with international MRLs for the benefit of imported food) will receive an initial response from FSANZ within the next month. For further information, please contact Kim Tonnet.

Certain foods imported into Australia must be covered by a food safety management certificate. The  Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment (DAWE) has published Guidelines for determining recognised food safety management certificates to assist importers.

The DAWE has recently been advised of an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the wild boar population of Germany. This outbreak will have an impact on the importation of certain goods into Australia that contain porcine material sourced from and/or manufactured in Germany. Imported goods that present a high level of biosecurity risk for ASF incursion are those that contain meat, bone, or other tissue from German pigs that were manufactured on or after 22 July 2020. Refer to the BICON alert was published here for more information.

The AFGC’s Export Guide to Indonesia was launched on the 23 September. Visit the AFGC’s member centre for access to the webinar and guidance documents.

AUSTRALIAN DIETARY GUIDELINES (ADG)
The NHMRC CEO is establishing a working committee to conduct the review of the ADG announced by Minister Hunt and Minister Colbeck. The National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992 requires public consultation on any guideline under development prior to finalisation. Committee members will be selected to ensure an appropriate mix of expertise and experience in key areas including nutrition science, research methodology and evidence evaluation. The AFGC will be advocating for an industry representative. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, consumers and end users will also be engaged in the development process. Approximate timelines for the review, including consultation activities (the first being priority areas for review), and membership of the Committee will soon be announced on the NHMRC website. For more information, please contact Anne-Marie Mackintosh.

HEALTHY FOOD PARTNERSHIP (HFP) UPDATED
Industry Best Practice Portion Size Working Group
The development of an Industry Best Practice Guide (the Guide) will provide guidance and support to food companies to incorporate nutrition as a key driver in labelling decisions regarding the size of servings of food and drinks offered in retail (R) and food service (FS).

The Working Group is in process of setting suggested portion guidance on the following categories: Chocolate and chocolate-based confectionery (R), Frozen desserts (ice cream and ice confectionery) (R), Cakes, muffins, slices and cake-type deserts (R&FS), Sweet biscuits (R&FS) (FS), Potato products (FS), Savoury pastry products, pies, rolls and envelopes (FS), Crumbed and battered protein (FS), Pizza (FS), and Non-dairy beverages – soft drinks (FS). 

As part of the development, consultation with industry (potentially consisting of roundtables or online as appropriate) is expected to occur in early 2021.

Reformulation Working Group
A second wave of targets for sodium and sugar are expected to be endorsed by the HFP Executive Committee and announced in late 2020. The food categories under consideration include: Breakfast cereals (sugar and sodium); Flavoured milk (sugar); Ready meals (sodium);  Carbonated soft drinks and energy drinks (sugar), Flavoured water, flavoured mineral water, soda water and iced tea (sugar); Popcorn (sodium); Sweetened yoghurt (sugar), Muesli and snack bars (sugar); and Fruit drinks (sugar).

For more information, please contact Anne-Marie Mackintosh.

HEALTH SURVEYS
National Health Survey (NHS)
The NHS for 2020–21 is currently in field and will collect information from approximately 12,000 households. This will build on previous NHS data collection, including fruit and vegetable consumption; alcohol intake and sugar sweetened and diet beverage intake. The first results of the NHS 2020–21 is expected in December 2021.

Apparent Consumption of Selected Foodstuffs
In June the ABS released experimental estimates from the ‘Apparent Consumption of Selected Foodstuffs’ data series for the 2018-2019 period. The ABS has also published a media release. The report provides a picture of Australia’s food consumption patterns per capita capturing sales of foods and non-alcoholic beverages at the retail level (from supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores and speciality food stores) but not foods sold in the food service sector. It also does not include food wastage or distribution of food within a household. The report compares the apparent consumption data against recommendations in the ADGs. The sales data have also been combined with the food composition data from FSANZ to enable assessment of the amounts of nutrients sold (sugars, sodium, carbohydrates etc) and comparison against nutrient intake recommendations. The results corroborate that, on average, Australians are not following the ADGs.

National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey
In August 2019, the Minister for Health announced the Intergenerational Health and Mental Health Study (IHMHS) will comprise four national studies, covering mental health, general health, nutrition and physical activity as well as biomedical measures with a representative sample of more than 60,000 Australians, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The data collected in the IHMHS will build on the previous National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey and the National Health Measures Survey. All components of the IHMHS, aside from the mental health survey, are expected to commence after the 2021 Census.

LATEST RESEARCH AND POLICY UPDATES  
Public Health England has unveiled a series of targets for calorie reduction
Public Health England has set new voluntary targets for a 10% reduction in energy content of ready meals, hot chips and garlic bread as well as a maximum energy guideline for other categories. It includes a 5% energy reduction in crisps, savoury snacks and sandwiches and a 20% cut in pizza and pastry products. Due to stakeholder feedback that the original guidelines of a 20% reduction were unrealistic, a more achievable 10% reduction goal was set. The 20% targets still apply to the food service sector based on foods from restaurants, cafes and takeaway containing more energy than that bought from retailers. The PHE latest guidance and media release were issued along with new salt targets for 2024 and a report of the summary of development of the targets.

Report finds “unhealthy commodity industries” leveraging COVID-19 pandemic “for commercial gain”

A report by the global NCD Alliance (Non-Communicable Diseases) Alliance and the SPECTRUM health research consortium examines the extent and implications of corporate initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic for health and sustainable development. The report details examples of activities by the food industry during COVID-19, such as adapting marketing and promotions for conditions experienced during lockdowns. Corporate philanthropic donations are labelled as ‘so called kind gestures’, and the pursuit of partnerships and collaborations with governments, international agencies, and leading civil society organisations are questioned in their appropriateness.

CONSUMER AND BUSINESS ATTITUDES TO REFORMULATION AND MAKING CHANGES TO YOUR PRODUCTS FOR HEALTH
The UK’s Food and Drink Federation (FDF) recently conducted a webinar on Reformulating Scotland’s Food & Drink. FDF has recently undertaken research to determine consumer and business attitudes to reformulation looking at consumer attitudes to health and wellbeing as well as highlighting key consumer profiles and what drives them when purchasing. It also analysed Scottish SME food manufacturers experiences of reformulation as well as identifying where any gaps and challenges are.
 

The Australian’s Regional Industry special report was published last month and a Members Brief was also circulated to members with links to this report and associated videos.  The key messages in this report included recognising the value of the sector in regional Australia and that it is the employees of the food, beverage and grocery sector who are the essential heroes that are keeping our supermarket shelves stocked and our businesses that are at the heart of the communities.

We encourage Members to set up their Members Centre login. If you require assistance, please contact Kim Riggans. 

2020 COMMITTEE AND FORUM MEETINGS

Health, Nutrition and Scientific Affairs Committee, convened by Geoffrey Annison

• Wednesday 11 November - teleconference/Zoom facilities

Please note the number of observers at the HNSAC meetings are limited.

Non-Food Forum, convened by Kim Tonnet

• November (TBC)  - teleconference/Zoom facilities

Please contact Kim Tonnet for more information on any of the consultations.

In addition to past webinars, the AFGC offers to its Members Events throughout  the year. 

The AFGC continues to host webinars, upcoming:

Preparedness in COVID times: updating crisis and recall management strategies for food and grocery on 30 September at 10am-11am. Members only. Register here.

Future Leaders Forum on 29 October at 10am - 3pm. Members only. Register here.  More information here on the program and speakers.

Consumer Healthcare Products Australia will host a webinar on the Food Medicine Interface from 9 – 11am on 29 October. Speakers include representatives from the TGA and FSANZ. Contact David Low for more information.

AIFST is hosting a series of events:

FIE Webinar series: Principles of food preservation from 29 Sept - 6 Oct 6, 2020 sessions via zoom. Register here

Webinar COVID-19 and your workforce hosted by FIAL on 6 Oct 2020. Register here.

Webinar series: High moisture extrusion cooking (HMEC) plant-based meat extraction from 14 Oct -15 Oct 2 sessions via zoom. Register here.  

Foodlegal is hosting a webinar on Sustainability its core to its law: what does it mean, how is it  regulated for the food industry? on 15 October Register here.

Legalwise is hosting a conference on 17 November Food Law Conference: Now and Beyond covering topical issues  such as country of origin labelling, health and nutrition claims, categorisation of products as food or therapeutic goods, and review of Food and Beverage Advertising Standards.  If interested, use promotional code SPK30.
 

The Health, Nutrition and Scientific Team at AFGC welcomes member feedback on SciTech. Requests and contributions for future editions are most welcome. Please contact Kim Tonnet with your comments.