Foreword (February 2020)

Foreword

By Joe Lederman (FoodLegal Chairperson), John Thisgaard and Jenny Awad (FoodLegal Bulletin Co-Editors)

Welcome to the February 2020 edition of FoodLegal Bulletin!


Upcoming events

1.    FoodLegal Co-Principal Charles Fisher is looking forward to presenting alongside Dr Richard Cantrill at the Food Authenticity and Commercialisation Breakfast Seminar.

The seminar is at 7:30am on Tuesday 11 February 2020 at the Sydney International Convention Centre. More details are available here.

2.    The first Sydney session of FoodLegal’s Trending Claims workshop has sold out. Some tickets remain for the second Sydney session and the Melbourne session.

Sydney (5 March 2020) SOLD OUT

Melbourne (9am 24 March 2020) SOLD OUT

Book here for Melbourne (1:30pm on 24 March 2020).


In this February 2020 edition of FoodLegal Bulletin

Our FREE article “Current developments in food law and policy in Australia and elsewhere” provides this month’s update on new regulatory developments and scientific developments that impact food producers and suppliers, beginning with Australia, but also internationally.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand has released its Proposal P1044 to introduce “plain English” labelling requirements into the Food Standards Code. Our article “Will the introduction of plain English allergen labelling create consistency for industry?” examines the major proposed changes, and asks whether they will fix the biggest issues facing allergen labelling in Australia.

Our article “The regulatory framework for konjac in Australia?” explores the existing regulation of konjac in Australia and Europe, as well as key questions which need to be considered when assessing whether konjac can be compliantly added to food sold in Australia.

Our article “Discrepancies between food product classification under the Food Standards Code and GST regimes” considers how food products might be categorised under the Food Standards Code and Australia’s Goods and Services Tax regime, and provides examples of where the different regimes might provide contrasting classifications.

In the United States, claims emphasising a low sugar content, such as ‘lightly sweetened’, ‘slightly sweet’ and ‘just a tad sweet’, have come under the regulatory spotlight. Our article “Regulatory implications of new claims about sugar” explores how such claims might be regulated in Australia, including the issues to consider when making claims about sugar.

New Zealand has released draft regulations imposing country of origin labelling requirements on foods sold in New Zealand. Our article “The 2019 draft NZ country of origin regulations, and their potential impact” explores these draft regulations and the potential impact for food imported into Australia from New Zealand.

We hope you enjoy this February 2020 “bumper edition” of FoodLegal Bulletin!

Joe Lederman, John Thisgaard and Jenny Awad

Editors

FoodLegal Bulletin

 

 


This is general information rather than legal advice and is current as of 30 Oct 2021. We therefore recommend you seek legal advice for your particular circumstances if you want to rely on advice or information to be a basis for any commercial decision-making by you or your business.