Sent February 2022 - Dietitians Australia and 23 other public health and consumer organisations wrote to the Food Ministers Meeting, the Hon Minister Greg Hunt and the Hon Mr Mark Butler about the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 (FSANZ Act) review.

Letter excerpt

We, the undersigned 24 public health and consumer organisations, write to you as Chair of the Food Ministers Meeting (FMM) following the release of the Food Ministers’ Meeting Communique of 16 December 2021 (the Communique) about the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 (FSANZ Act) Review.

We were pleased to see that Ministers confirmed ‘the principle of the protection of public health and safety and [that] this has primacy in the FSANZ Act’. One in six deaths in Australia and New Zealand are caused by diet related disease, and it is our strong view that the FSANZ Act has an important role to play in improving the food system and saving lives.

We are concerned, however, that this principle is not represented in the FSANZ Act Regulatory Impact Statement option that has been presented to Ministers at the December 2021 FMM (December RIS).

For more read the full letter.

Letters were sent to:

• Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck (Chair Food Ministers Meeting)
• Hon Minister Greg Hunt
• Hon Mr Mark Butler