Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code - Standard 1.2.7 - Nutrition, Health and Related Claims
Part 1Purpose and interpretation
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Turn the raw legal text into a practical explanation grounded in Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code - Standard 1.2.7 - Nutrition, Health and Related Claims.
Standard 1.1A.8 is a transitional Standard that applies to claims about the presence or absence of dietary fibre in a food and operates concurrently with Standard 1.2.7. The transitional arrangement permitted by Standard 1.1A.8 allows a supplier making a claim about the presence or absence of dietary fibre in a food to either comply with clause 11 of Standard 1.2.7 or clause 2 of Standard 1.1A.8, but not both. This transitional arrangement under Standard 1.1A.8 commenced on 18 January 2016 and will cease on 1 March 2016 when the revised Code takes effect and that Standard is revoked. The revised Code will provide a similar transitional arrangement until and including 17 January 2017.
1 Purpose
This Standard –
(a) sets out the claims that can be made on labels or in advertisements about the nutritional content of food (described as nutrition content claims) and the claims that can be made on labels or in advertisements about the relationship between a food or a property of a food, and a health effect (described as health claims); and
(b) describes the conditions under which such claims can be made, and
(c) describes the circumstances in which endorsements can be provided on labels or in advertisements.
Note: Editorial note:
Note: Standard 1.2.8 may prescribe additional labelling requirements for claims regulated in Standard 1.2.7.
2 Interpretation
In this Standard –
average energy content is as defined in Standard 1.2.8.
biologically active substance is as defined in Standard 1.2.8.
biomarker means a measurable biological parameter that is predictive of the risk of a serious disease when present at an abnormal level in the human body.
carbohydrate is as defined in Standard 1.2.8.
dietary fibre is as defined in Standard 1.2.8.
endorsement means a nutrition content claim or a health claim that is made with the permission of an endorsing body.
endorsing body is a not-for-profit entity which has a nutrition- or health-related purpose or function that permits a supplier to make an endorsement.
fat is as defined in Standard 1.2.8.
food group means any of the following groups –
(a) bread (both leavened or unleavened), grains, rice, pasta and noodles;
(b) fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices and fungi;
(c) milk and milk products as standardised in Part 2.5 and analogues derived from legumes and cereals mentioned in Column 1 of the Table to clause 3 in Standard 1.3.2;
(d) meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds and dried legumes;
(e) fats including butter, edible oils and edible oil spreads.
fruit means the edible portion of a plant or constituents of the edible portion that are present in the typical proportion of the whole fruit (with or without the peel or water), but does not include nuts, spices, herbs, fungi, legumes and seeds.
fvnl is as defined in item 4 of Schedule 5 for the purpose of calculating V points.
general level health claim means a health claim that is not a high level health claim.
gluten means the main protein in wheat, rye, oats, barley, triticale and spelt relevant to the medical conditions coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis.
glycaemic index (GI) means a measure of the blood glucose raising ability of the digestible carbohydrates in a given food as determined by a recognised scientific method.
Editorial note:
Note: A method for determining glycaemic index of carbohydrates in foods is described in the Standards Australia Australian Standard Glycemic index of foods (AS 4694 – 2007). In particular, glycaemic index testing is carried out by the determination of glycaemic (blood glucose) responses in human volunteers (in–vivo testing).
Note: The objective of AS 4694 - 2007 is to establish the recognised scientific method as the standard method for the determination of glycaemic index (GI) in foods.
health claim means a claim which states, suggests or implies that a food or a property of food has, or may have, a health effect.
Note: Editorial note:
Note: For the definition of claim, see clause 2 of Standard 1.1.1.
health effect means an effect on the human body, including an effect on one or more of the following –
(a) a biochemical process or outcome;
(b) a physiological process or outcome;
(c) a functional process or outcome;
(d) growth and development;
(e) physical performance;
(f) mental performance;
(g) a disease, disorder or condition.
high level health claim means a health claim that refers to a serious disease or a biomarker of a serious disease.
maximum claimable amount means the maximum claimable amount as prescribed by clause 4 or clause 5 of Standard 1.3.2.
meets the NPSC means that the nutrient profiling score of a food described in Column 1 of Schedule 4 is less than the number specified for that food in Column 2 of that Schedule.
monounsaturated fatty acids is as defined in Standard 1.2.8.
NPSC means the nutrient profiling scoring criterion.
nutrient profiling score means the final score calculated pursuant to the method described in Schedule 5.
nutrition content claim means a claim about –
(a) the presence or absence of –
(i) a biologically active substance; or
(ii) dietary fibre; or
(iii) energy; or
(iv) minerals; or
(v) potassium; or
(vi) protein; or
(vii) carbohydrate; or
(viii) fat; or
(ix) the components of any one of protein, carbohydrate or fat; or
(x) salt; or
(xi) sodium; or
(xii) vitamins; or
(b) glycaemic index or glycaemic load;
that does not refer to the presence or absence of alcohol, and is not a health claim.
Note: Editorial note:
Note: For the definition of claim, see clause 2 of Standard 1.1.1.
polyunsaturated fatty acids is as defined in Standard 1.2.8.
property of food means a component, ingredient, constituent or other feature of food.
reference food means a food that is –
(a) of the same type as the food for which a claim is made and that has not been further processed, formulated, reformulated or modified to increase or decrease the energy value or the amount of the nutrient for which the claim is made; or
(b) a dietary substitute for the food in the same food group as the food for which a claim is made.
Note: Editorial note:
An example for paragraph (a) is reduced fat milk compared to whole milk (the reference food).
An example for paragraph (b) is milk alternatives compared to milk products (the reference food).
reference quantity means the reference quantity specified for the food in Column 2 of the Table to clause 3 of Standard 1.3.2.
salt is as defined in Standard 2.10.2.
saturated fatty acids is as defined in Standard 1.2.8.
serious disease means a disease, disorder or condition which is generally diagnosed, treated or managed in consultation with or with supervision by a health care professional.
small package is as defined in Standard 1.2.1.
sugars is as defined in Standard 1.2.8.
trans fatty acids is as defined in Standard 1.2.8.
vegetable means the edible portion of a plant or constituents of the edible portion that are present in the typical proportion of the whole vegetable (with or without the peel or water) but does not include nuts, spices, herbs, fungi, dried legumes (including dried legumes that have been cooked or rehydrated) and seeds.