Australia New Zealand Food Standards Agency Issues Amendment 233: Ten Major Food Standard Revisions Cause Market Shock!

On 29 October 2024, Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) officially published the Official Gazette on the amendments to the ANZ Food Standards Code No. 233. The amendment mainly involves the standard revision in the following aspects:

1. Standard 1.1.2: refers to the definitions used throughout the code to ensure that terms and concepts used in the Codex Alimentaries have a clear and uniform meaning.

2. Standard 1.2.3: Regarding information requirements, including cautionary statements, cautionary statements and claims, to ensure that consumers have access to accurate and necessary information to make informed food choices.

3. Standard 1.2.7: Relates to nutrition, health and related claims to regulate health claims that may appear on food labels and ensure their scientific basis and accuracy.

4. Standard 1.2.8: Requirements on Nutritional information to ensure that consumers have access to detailed information on the nutritional content of food to help them better understand the nutritional value of food.

5. Standard 2.6.2: relates to non-alcoholic beverages and brewing soft beverages to ensure that the ingredients and labelling of these beverages comply with relevant regulatory requirements.

6. Schedule 2: With respect to units of measurement, to unify the units of measurement used in the Codex Alimentarius to ensure consistency and accuracy.

7. Schedule 4: Relates to nutrition, health and related claims to provide a clear guide for evaluating and approving relevant claims on food labels.

8. Attached Table 11: Calculation of the labeled value of nutritional information to ensure that the nutritional information provided on food packaging is accurate and convenient for consumers to refer to.

9. Schedule 18: relates to processing AIDS to regulate the processing AIDS used in the food production process to ensure their safety and compliance.

10. Schedule 25: In relation to permitted novel food products to ensure that novel food products go through a rigorous assessment and approval process before being marketed in ANZ.

The scope of application of these amendments includes the following:

A1247- Approval of D-aloxlose as novel food products to expand the diversity of food markets and meet consumer demand for novel food products.

A1284- Approval of triacylglycerol lipase from transgenic Trichoderma reesei as a processing aid to improve the efficiency and safety of food processing.

P1063- Code Revision (2024)- adds a statement on sugar to increase consumer awareness of the sugar content in food and promote healthy eating habits.

In addition, according to Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ), on 29 October 2024, FSANZ also issued Circular 313-24, of which Application A1315, seeking the approval of chitosan and β-1, 3-glucan from white mushrooms as food additives in food and beverage products. This initiative aims to further enrich the variety of food additives and provide more options for the food industry, while also ensuring the safety and compliance of these additives.

Anz Food Standards issued 233 amendments: 10 major food standard amendments caused market shock!