Sanitarium introduce food labelling system

Sanitarium has introduced a food labelling system to make it easier for consumers to identify what is in their food as the Government continue to mull over labelling changes.

The healthy food labelling system would enable consumers to identify the saturated fat, fibre, and added sugar content of food, as well as healthy ingredients such as wholegrain, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, the company said.

Sanitarium general manager Pierre van Heerden said the company developed the system in response to calls for a traffic light (colour coded) style of labelling in a recent report.

"The aim of any front of pack labelling should be to help improve eating habits in line with other government initiatives," said Mr van Heerden said.

"We have developed and researched a concept that does that. It goes beyond ranking individual food nutrients and provides additional recommendations on the best way to incorporate a range of foods into your diet."

The system gives a rating on the positive aspects of a particular food product, for instance the proportion of protein, fibre and wholefood such as fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Like European traffic light labelling, it also rates nutrients associated with chronic disease - namely saturated fat, sodium, total and added sugar.

It advises how often a food should be eaten for example eat sparingly.

Green MP Sue Kedgley welcomed the move.

"Consumers want to be able to see at a glance whether foods they are about to purchase are healthy or unhealthy," she said.

However, she wanted the Government to adopt a traffic light style of labelling.

"Poor diet contributes to about 11,000 deaths each year and is a huge burden on the public health system.

"I am worried that our Government, rather than supporting schemes like this, seems to be actively opposing better food labelling."

Earlier this year Food Standards Australia and New Zealand made 61 recommendations which included minimum label sizes, greater prominence for allergen warnings and mandatory labelling of trans fats and salt.

The Government said it would consider the recommendations but decisions would not be made until December.