The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has applauded the European Parliament for adopting front-of-pack food labelling.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) also rejected “traffic light” food labels on June 16, which AFGC said was a step in the right direction to help consumers make informed nutritional choices.
AFGC Chief Executive Kate Carnell said the EU’s decision was an important outcome, especially in light of the current Review of Food Labelling Policy and Law in Australia.
“We hope that the Blewett Review will take note of the EU’s ruling on front-of-pack labelling, which empowers consumers to make more informed food choices and improve their diets,” Carnell said.
Under the EU decision, companies will now use Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) to label the energy, sugar, salt and fat content on the front of food packages, as well as protein, unsaturated fats and fibre.
She also said the system adopted by the EU is a “very similar” model to Australia’s Daily Intake Guide (DIG) front-of-pack labelling system, which lists the amount of energy, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt in a recommended serve of the food and what this represents as a proportion of average daily intake.
The DIG system, launched in Australia in 2006, is now used by the majority of brands on more than 2,500 food and beverage products in supermarkets and convenience stores.
This is a 3000 per cent increase from 2007 when DIG was used by major brands on only 58 products.
DIG is also being progressively added to private labels in major supermarkets including Woolworths, Coles and IGA.