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OPINION: During my last recess break, I got around the country and met with many farmers and growers from Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Manawatu, Marlborough, and Canterbury.
Earlier this month, Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard announced that New Zealand would opt out of the Australia-New Zealand standard in favour of a modified standard.
Infant Nutrition Council chief executive Jonathan Chew says he understands that the modified standard will, by and large, represent the proposal from FSANZ.
“However, the NZ standard will have two or three important amendments that seek to keep restrictions on labelling the same as the existing standard; specifically, information which highlights ingredients can continue to be put on the front of the label,” Chew told Rural News.
He says this will allow New Zealand parents and caregivers of formula-fed infants to continue to be able to make informed decisions regarding how they feed their children.
“It also means NZ exports do not face additional restrictions compared with infant formula from the EU or US in overseas markets,” says Chew.
Chew says the likely reason why Australia supported the standard where New Zealand did not is because New Zealand exports “significantly more” infant formula than Australia.
“However, there is also concern that in Australia, in an effort to protect and promote breastfeeding, some ministers believe you need to make using formula as unappealing and complicated as possible,” he says.
“Ultimately, we want parents to have sufficient information on the label for them to be able to make informed choices about what’s best for their children,” he adds.
The original standard proposed by Food Safety Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) would see the introduction of new restrictions on the labelling of ingredients within infant formulas.
FSANZ claimed in its Decision Regulation Impact Statement that, currently, labelling and packaging for infant formula products could be misleading for parents and caregivers.
At a meeting of Food Safety Ministers for Australia and New Zealand, Hoggard sought a review of the new labelling requirements. However, this was not supported by his Australian counterparts.
“As a result, we will now implement a New Zealand standard over the next five years,” Hoggard says.
“So long as infant formula is safe and the claims on labels are not misleading, consumers should be allowed to make their own informed choices,” he says.
Hoggard says New Zealand only sought modifications to two parts of the standard in relation to restrictions on labelling that do not suit the New Zealand context.
“The vast majority of the standard is good and supported by industry,” he says.
Dr Mariana Muelbert, research fellow at the Liggins Institute, part of the University of Auckland, says the decision to opt out of the FSANZ standard is a step in the wrong direction.
She says that, currently, New Zealand only partially complies with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (the Code) and the FSANZ proposal would have addressed legislative shortfalls.
