Overview

In August 2019 the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation (now the Food Ministers’ Meeting) asked the Food Regulation Standing Committee (FRSC) to consider options to improve the composition of the food supply in relation to trans fats.

This consultation has been prepared by the FRSC to support consideration of regulatory and non-regulatory options for improving the composition of the food supply in relation to industrially-produced trans fats.

The desired outcome of this work is to ensure industrially-produced trans fats are eliminated or reduced as much as possible from the food supply in Australia and New Zealand to support all population groups to minimise consumption of trans fats.

Why We Are Consulting

Australia and New Zealand share a joint system for food labelling which is overseen by Food Ministers. Food Ministers are responsible for developing food regulation policy in the form of policy guidelines and to ensure stakeholder views are considered on appropriate policies.

Stakeholder submissions to this consultation will be used by FRSC to identify a preferred policy option to recommend to the Food Ministers’ Meeting regarding potential changes to the food supply in relation industrially-produced trans fats.

Options under consideration

FRSC has proposed 3 policy options (in addition to the status quo) to achieve the desired outcome. These policy options are not necessarily mutually exclusive and more than one option could be adopted.

The options are:

• Voluntary reformulation

• Regulatory limits for industrial trans fats in processed foods

• Prohibiting use of partially-hydrogenated oils in processed foods

Further information about these options is detailed in the Public Consultation Options Paper which is available on the consultation webpage under the ‘Related’ section at the bottom of the page.

Online Consultation

The online consultation will be available from 4 August 2023 until 15 September 2023 on the Consultation Hub.

Online Stakeholder forums

Two stakeholder forums will be held during the consultation period, one for public health/consumer representatives and one for food industry. The stakeholder forums will be co-facilitated by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care and the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries. The stakeholder forums will provide the opportunity for stakeholders to discuss the questions posed in the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement.

Online Stakeholder Forum: Public Health and Consumers

Date: Thursday 24 August 2023
Time: 11am AEST/1pm NZST
Contact us to register.

Online Stakeholder Forum: Industry

Date: Tuesday 29 August 2023
Time: 1pm AEST/3pm NZST
Contact us to register.