Sent June 2021 - Dietitians Australia wrote to Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck, Chair of the Food Minister Meeting, with feedback on the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Act reform approaches.

Letter excerpt

All Australians want to enjoy healthy happy lives and live well. Eating healthy foods is a key way we can achieve this. Most Australians try to eat well but struggle to pick healthy foods from shelves full of processed products that claim all sorts of benefits without being truthful about how much cheap saturated fat, sugar and salt they’re packed with. The food regulatory system as it stands is not set up to protect Australians from the confusion faced in supermarket aisles. This is by far the most significant public health issue linked to our food system today.

Right now, the government has a ripe opportunity to pioneer a modernised food regulatory system that ends this confusion and puts Australians first.

The government’s commitment to a healthy food system is clear in the latest draft Aspirations for the Food Regulatory System. However, this is not reflected in reform approaches proposed in the draft Regulatory Impact Statement for the FSANZ Act review. In fact, the proposed reform approaches contradict the Aspirations the Food Ministers Meeting and other stakeholders have worked hard to develop.

For more read the full letter.