Health and Environmental Services Information Sheet 17
Food - Labelling Requirements
All packaged foods for sale within Australia must bear a label. Labelling of packaged food is a requirement of the Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code, which is a national code which governs and stipulates the requirements for all foods sold in Australia and New Zealand.
The label on foods for retail sale must display the following information.
1. The name of the food
2. Lot identification
3. Name and address of supplier (PO Box is not acceptable)
4. Every ingredient in the food by its common name. Ingredients are to be listed in descending order of ingoing weight.
5. Date marking, that is:
- Used by date - where the food should be consumed before a certain date because of health or safety reasons i.e. meat, dairy and other high risk foods.
- Best Before Date - where the food is no longer marketable and will not retain its quality, i.e. dry cakes, biscuits etc.
6. Nutritional Information Panel: (Charitable groups are exempt from this requirement)
- The number of servings of the food in the package
- The average quantity of the food in a serving expressed in grams or millilitres
- The unit quantity of the food
- The average energy content, (kilojoules/calories) of a serving of the food
- Where necessary, the quantity of protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate and sugars in a serving of the food
- The average quantity in milligrams or millimoles of sodium in a serving of the food
- The name and average quantity of any other nutrient or biologically active substance in respect of which a nutrition claim is made expressed in grams, milligrams or other units as appropriate that is in a serving of the food.
Nutritional Information Panel
The Nutritional Information Panel must be in the following format:
| NUTRITION INFORMATION | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Servings per package: (insert number of servings)Serving size: g (or mL or other units as appropriate) | ||||
| Quantity per Serving | Quantity per 100g(or 100mL) | |||
| Energy | kJ (Cal) | kJ (Cal) | ||
| Protein | g | g | ||
| Fat, total - saturated | gg | gg | ||
| Carbohydrate - sugars | gg | gg | ||
| Sodium | mg (mmol) | mg (mmol) | ||
| (insert any other nutrient or biologically active substance to be declared) | g, mg, mg (or other units as appropriate) | g, mg, mg (or other units as appropriate) | ||
Nutritional Information Panel Calculator
The Nutritional Information Panel Calculator is available on http://www.foodstandards.gov.au
In some instances Mandatory Advisory Statements and Declarations may be necessary. These are required on the label, when the food contains a product which is known to cause allergic reactions or unsuitable for some members of the public. For example Bee Pollen, milk, aspartame, can cause allergic reactions.
Should your product require refrigeration or special storage conditions, you are also required to include directions for the use or storage of the food, for example, Refrigerate after opening.
All labels are to be written in English, legible and prominent and in contrast to the background of the label or food.
Packaged foods which are found to be incorrectly labelled or unlabelled will be removed from sale.
For further information regarding labelling requirements, please contact an Environmental Health Officer on 9377 8000.
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