Commonwealth legislation

Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code - Standard 2.8.1 - Sugars

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Collection

legislative instrument

Plain English Summary

2/10 complexity

This Standard defines what counts as "sugar" and sugar-related products for food regulation purposes in Australia and New Zealand.

Key definitions:

Sugars: Includes various sweet carbohydrates like dextrose, fructose, ordinary sugar (sucrose), milk sugar (lactose), glucose syrups, maltodextrin, brown sugar, molasses, and icing sugar. It specifically excludes malt extracts and sugar alcohols like sorbitol and xylitol.
Icing: Any sugar mixture used as a coating on foods (including frosting and icing gel).
White sugar: Purified crystallised sucrose (ordinary table sugar).

Important terminology rule: When other parts of the Food Code simply say "sugar" without specifying, they mean: white sugar, caster sugar, icing sugar, loaf sugar, coffee sugar, or raw sugar.

Quality standard: White sugar must contain at least 99.7% pure sucrose when measured on a dry basis.

What's not covered: Honey is dealt with in a separate standard (2.8.2), and artificial sweeteners are regulated under Standard 1.3.1.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code - Standard 2.8.1 - Sugars.

Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code - Standard 2.8.1 - Sugars

Standard 2.8.1

Sugars

Purpose

This Standard provides specific definitions for sugar and related products. The Standard also sets a compositional requirement for white sugar.

Honey is standardised in Standard 2.8.2 and is not covered by this Standard. Standard 1.3.1 regulates intense sweeteners.

Table of Provisions

1 Interpretation

2 Reference to ‘sugar’

3 Composition of white sugar

Clauses

1 Interpretation

In this Code –

icing means a mixture of sugar and other foods for use as a coating and includes frosting, plastic icing and icing gel.

sugars means –

  (a) hexose monosaccharides and disaccharides, including dextrose, fructose, sucrose and lactose; or
  (b) starch hydrolysate; or
  (c) glucose syrups, maltodextrin and similar products; or
  (d) products derived at a sugar refinery, including brown sugar and molasses; or
  (e) icing sugar; or
  (f) invert sugar; or
  (g) fruit sugar syrup;

derived from any source, but does not include –

  (h) malt or malt extracts; or
  (i) sorbitol, mannitol, glycerol, xylitol, polydextrose, isomalt, maltitol, maltitol syrup or lactitol.

white sugar means purified crystallised sucrose.

2 Reference to ‘sugar’

A reference to ‘sugar’ elsewhere in this Code is, unless otherwise expressly stated, a reference to –

(a) white sugar; or
(b) caster sugar; or
(c) icing sugar; or
(d) loaf sugar; or
(e) coffee sugar; or
(f) raw sugar.

Note: Editorial note:

Note: See Standard 1.2.4 – Labelling of Ingredients for requirements for labelling of ‘sugars’ as an ingredient.

3 Composition of white sugar

White sugar must have no less than 99.7% sucrose content, calculated on a dry basis.

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code - Standard 2.8.1 - Sugars

Standard 2.8.1

Sugars

Purpose

This Standard provides specific definitions for sugar and related products. The Standard also sets a compositional requirement for white sugar.

Honey is standardised in Standard 2.8.2 and is not covered by this Standard. Standard 1.3.1 regulates intense sweeteners.

Table of Provisions

1 Interpretation

2 Reference to ‘sugar’

3 Composition of white sugar

Clauses

1 Interpretation

In this Code –

icing means a mixture of sugar and other foods for use as a coating and includes frosting, plastic icing and icing gel.

sugars means –

  (a) hexose monosaccharides and disaccharides, including dextrose, fructose, sucrose and lactose; or
  (b) starch hydrolysate; or
  (c) glucose syrups, maltodextrin and similar products; or
  (d) products derived at a sugar refinery, including brown sugar and molasses; or
  (e) icing sugar; or
  (f) invert sugar; or
  (g) fruit sugar syrup;

derived from any source, but does not include –

  (h) malt or malt extracts; or
  (i) sorbitol, mannitol, glycerol, xylitol, polydextrose, isomalt, maltitol, maltitol syrup or lactitol.

white sugar means purified crystallised sucrose.

2 Reference to ‘sugar’

A reference to ‘sugar’ elsewhere in this Code is, unless otherwise expressly stated, a reference to –

(a) white sugar; or
(b) caster sugar; or
(c) icing sugar; or
(d) loaf sugar; or
(e) coffee sugar; or
(f) raw sugar.

Note: Editorial note:

Note: See Standard 1.2.4 – Labelling of Ingredients for requirements for labelling of ‘sugars’ as an ingredient.

3 Composition of white sugar

White sugar must have no less than 99.7% sucrose content, calculated on a dry basis.