The following are from media releases from Food Standards Australia new Zealand (FSANZ) and are included here with permission.

FSANZ consultation paper proposes new approach to regulation of nutritive substances and novel foods

(26 March 2012)

Food Standards Australian New Zealand (FSANZ) today released a consultation paper on a proposed new approach to regulating nutritive substances and novel foods.

Under the current Food Standards Code, nutritive substances are foods that are not normally consumed as food on their own or used as an ingredient, for example an amino acid. Novel foods are foods or substances that don’t have a history of human consumption.

FSANZ Chief Executive Officer Steve McCutcheon said there had been some difficulty in interpreting the current definitions for nutritive substances and novel foods, which led to FSANZ exploring a new approach.

“Under the proposed alternative approach, definitions in the Code for these substances and foods would be removed,” Mr McCutcheon said.

“They would be replaced with criteria for eligible foods. Foods that don’t meet the criteria would be deemed non-eligible and would need to be assessed. If considered safe to eat, they would be listed as permitted in the Code.

“FSANZ welcomes comments on the consultation paper from government agencies, public health professionals, industry and the community on the application.”

The closing date for submissions is 21 May 2012.

Horticulture report released for consultation

(26 March 2012)

Food Standards Australia New Zealand called for submissions today on a report looking at the safety of fresh produce including fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, tree nuts and edible flowers.

FSANZ Chief Executive Officer Steve McCutcheon said this work was part of a series of national food safety standards which apply throughout the food supply chain – from paddock to plate.

“Surveys show that the horticulture sector does a good job in managing food safety risks associated with fresh produce,” Mr McCutcheon said.

“The majority of fresh horticultural produce grown in Australia is produced under industry-based food safety schemes.

“However, food safety hazards can occur which can cause illness in the community and costs to industry.

“FSANZ is exploring if regulatory or additional non-regulatory measures are needed to manage these hazards in conjunction with existing schemes.”

Comments are invited from government agencies, industry and consumers on the Assessment Report.

The closing date for submissions is 21 May 2012.

Call for submissions on minor meat species proposal

(26 March 2012)

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) today called for submissions on a proposal looking at possible food safety measures for producers and processors of minor meat species and wild game.

FSANZ Chief Executive Officer Steve McCutcheon said species covered by the primary production and processing proposal included kangaroo, crocodile, rabbit, ostrich and emu.

“Primary production and processing standards set out obligations for primary producers and processors at critical points in the food chain,” Mr McCutcheon said.

“For example, where appropriate, in primary production there may be obligations for inputs such as feed and water to be managed.”

“There are existing requirements in Australian Standards for meat processing for some of these species however there is no process for reviewing or updating these standards.

“One of the options FSANZ is looking at would involve including processing controls currently in place under Australian Standards in the Food Standards Code.”

The closing date for submissions is 21 May 2012.

More information

Consultation paper – Proposed future regulation of nutritive substances and novel foods in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (word  537 kb) | (pdf 1062 kb)

How to make a submission

FSANZ’s latest notification circular

Media contact: 0401 714 265 (Australia) or  +61 401 714 265 (from New Zealand) or email media@foodstandards.gov.au

The following are two of the current Recalls, the information has been provided by Food Standards Australia New Zealand and is included here with permission.

Fantastic Snacks (unpleasant odour and stale taste)

Fantastic Snacks has recalled Fantastic Noodles Chicken Flavoured and Beef Flavoured nationally from Coles, IGA and other independent supermarkets due to reports of unpleasant odour and stale taste, possibly caused by the chemical composition of the cooking oil. Consumers should not eat this product as it may cause nausea and/or stomach upsets. Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice.

Date notified to FSANZ – 28 March 2012

Food type – Mixed and/or processed food

Product name

• Fantastic 2 Minute Noodles Chicken Flavoured 12 Pack
• Fantastic 2 Minute Noodles Beef Flavoured 12 Pack

Package description & size – 1.02kg net (12x85g), rectangular cardboard box containing 12 packets of noodles

Date marking – All Best Before dates currently in the marketplace

Country of origin – Australia

Reason for recall – There have been consumer complaints of unpleasant odour and stale taste, possibly caused by the chemical composition of the cooking oil

Distribution -Nationally at Coles, IGA and other independent retail outlets

Consumer advice – Consumers should not eat this product as it may cause nausea and/or stomach upsets Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice. Consumers should return these products (including any opened and/or partially consumed packs) to the place of purchase for a full refund

Contact – Customer Hotline 1800 334 829

Woolworths Ltd (undeclared allergens)

Woolworths Ltd has recalled Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Devil’s Food Cupcakes (mix) and Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Confetti Cupcakes (mix) nationally from Woolworths/Safeway/Food For Less/ Flemings Supermarkets due to undeclared allergens (milk and traces of tree nuts). Consumers with a milk or tree nut allergy or intolerance may have a reaction if these products are consumed. Consumers with a milk or tree nut allergy or intolerance should not consume these products and should return them to the nearest Woolworths/Safeway/Food For Less/ Flemings Supermarket for a full refund.

Date notified to FSANZ – 22 March 2012

Food type – Mixed and/or processed food

Product name

• Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Devil’s Food Cupcakes (mix)
• Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Confetti Cupcakes (mix)

Package description & size – 255g red cardboard box

Date marking – All best before dates currently sold by Woolworths Ltd

Country of origin -USA

Reason for recall – Undeclared allergens due to a labelling application error by Woolworths Ltd. Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Devil’s Food Cupcakes (mix) may contain undeclared traces of tree nuts. Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Confetti Cupcakes (mix) contains undeclared milk and may contain undeclared traces of tree nuts.

Distribution – Woolworths/Safeway/Food For Less/ Flemings Supermarkets nationally

Consumer advice – Consumers with a milk or tree nut allergy or intolerance may have a reaction if these products are consumed. Consumers with a milk or tree nut allergy or intolerance should not consume these products and should return them to the nearest Woolworths/Safeway/Food For Less/ Flemings Supermarket for a full refund.

Contact -Woolworths Toll-free Customer Service number: 1800 103 515

There are many people who object to genetic modification, but a form of this research, and potential product, is looking to helping those in our community that are allergic to eggs.

An allergy to eggs does not only impact on the food these people can eat but also on whether they can be given vaccines. Most vaccines, like those for the Flu, are made on an egg white base and this means that those with egg allergies are most likely not able to have them, and this is a major health issue for our community.

There are 40 proteins in egg white and four of them account for the majority of egg allergies.

The research is being done by a PhD candidate (Pathum Dhanapala) at Deakin University as a collaboration with both the CSIRO and the Poultry Co-operative Research Centre. Although the modification that is being developed is not actually gene modification, it will result in a product that will allow those with an egg allergy to have eggs and bacon for breakfast.

The research is focused on switching off the main four proteins in egg white. The incredible aspect of the research is that the modified eggs appear to still produce viable young and those chickens will then lay eggs that are allergy free.

Associate Professor Cenk Suphioglu from Deakin’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences said; “This is a completely novel approach in that previous egg-allergy research has cloned the egg-white-allergen genes but no-one has gone as far as to make the proteins non-allergenic. There is evidence that new parents are exposing their infants to egg products for the first time in the car parks of major children’s hospitals just so they are close to medical attention in case their child reacts adversely.”

This research has not only food safety implications but will make vaccines safer for all. The research will take a few more years, and it is expected that allergy free eggs will be available in supermarkets within five to 10 years.

2012 is the Year of the Farmer, so the recently named 13th Australian Grand Dairy Awards (AGDA) has extra significance.

There are 19 categories and the Champions of each of those are then judged to determine the Grand Champion Cheese product and Grand Champion Dairy product.

Ian Halliday, the Managing Director of Dairy Australia commented, “The dairy industry has a strong history of innovation and inspiration, our dairying tradition has been forged by people with vision and a determination to succeed and is literally brimming with inspirational stories of resilience, passion and energy.”

The 2012 Grand Champions were:

Cheese – Maffra Cloth Aged Cheddar, Maffra Cheese Co (VIC)

Dairy – Gippsland Dairy Pure Double Cream, Bead Foods (VIC)

The 2012 AGDA Cheese Champions were:

Fresh Unripened Cheese – That’s Amore Burrata, That’s Amore Cheese (VIC)

Cheddar-Style Cheese – Maffra Cloth Aged Cheddar, Maffra Cheese Co (VIC)

Washed Rind Cheese – King Island Dairy Stormy, Lion Dairy & Drinks (TAS)

White Mould Cheese – Tasmanian Heritage Signature Camembert, Lion Dairy & Drinks (TAS)

Hard Cheese – Puglia Pecorino Romano, The Fresh Cheese Co (VIC)

Flavoured Cheese – Barambah Organics Labna with Fennel & Sea Salt, Barambah Organics (QLD)

Semi-Hard and Eye Cheese – Tasmanian Heritage St Claire, Lion Dairy & Drinks (TAS)

Blue Cheese – King Island Dairy Roaring Forties Blue, Lion Dairy & Drinks (TAS)

Goat’s or Sheep’s Milk Cheese – Woodside Monet, Woodside Cheese Wrights (SA)

The 2012 AGDA Dairy Champions were:

Natural Yogurt – Mundella Premium Natural Yoghurt, Mundella Foods (WA)

Flavoured Yogurt – Gippsland Dairy Blueberry Twist Yogurt, Bead Foods (VIC)

Ice Cream – Cocolat Pistachio Ice Cream, Cocolat (SA)

Dairy Gelato – Caffe e Gelato Milany Banana Gelato, Caffe e Gelato Milany (QLD)

Dairy Dessert – King Island Dairy Belgian Chocolate Crème Dessert, Lion Dairy & Drinks (TAS)

Milk – Pura Original Milk, Lion Dairy & Drinks (VIC)

Specialty White Dairy Drink – Sungold O’ Frothy One, Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory (VIC)

Flavoured Dairy Drink – Oak Egg Nog, Parmalat (SA)

Cream – Gippsland Dairy Pure Double Cream, Bead Foods (VIC)

Butter or Butter Blend – Tatura Continental Unsalted Butter, Tatura Milk Industries (VIC)

For a while now, there has been a lot of work on improving, or even eliminating, the bar code system for foods.

While scanning of packaged food products in supermarkets is now the method used to process customer orders, it was only 15 or so years ago that there were no scanners. There are still some in our community that can remember when scanners first came into our lives and the furore about how they are going to cause cancer and other medical conditions.

The use of barcodes and scanners has given retailers an incredible ability to maintain stock control and has allowed for many of the technological benefits we now accept as part of our shopping experience.

The major problem with bar codes is that fresh produce does not have them and therefore cannot be scanned. This has meant that the weighing and manual price entry has remained with us.

A new type of scanner does not use barcodes but a small high speed camera and can be used on all foods, including fresh produce.

The scanner has been created in Japan by Toshiba Tec and is called the Object Recognition Scanner. It has the ability to ignore the background in the picture taken and allow the system to identify the actual food itself.

Toshiba said, “Ordinarily, with a camera, the surroundings would appear as well, but with the Object Recognition Scanner, only the subjects like apples appear. That means the noise is eliminated from the beginning, so the scanner can recognize objects very fast, even if they’re moving. Fruit and vegetables in supermarkets don’t usually have barcodes, because they’re put out while they’re fresh. So these items can’t be read at the register using barcodes, which means staff need to input data to record them. If staff are part-time employees, they may not recognise some items, which can cause delays. We’re developing this new scanner to solve that problem.”

The new scanners are not yet available as Toshiba is finalising it’s fine tuning.

Another method that is being used to replace the bar code is the Radio Frequency Identification chip. This is a tiny specially developed chip that is attached to the product and replaces the bar code. The chip is read by a special scanner and provides; price, quantity remaining, product name, weight of packaged food and manufacturer as well as other required information. This method is already heavily used with the warehousing and transport industries and is now starting to make it’s way into retail.

The following is a media release from Food Standards Australia New Zealand and is included here with permission.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) today called for submissions on an application for a processing aid to reduce the risk of the food poisoning bacteria Listeria.

FSANZ Chief Executive Officer, Steve McCutcheon, said Micreos B.V (previously EBI Food Safety Ltd) had applied for permission to use a bacteriophage preparation called P100 as a processing aid for ready-to-eat foods to reduce levels of Listeria monocytogenes.

“Processing aids can’t be used in food production without a rigorous safety assessment by FSANZ,” Mr McCutcheon said.

“FSANZ is proposing that P100 be approved for the surface treatment of solid ready-to eat meat (including poultry) and meat products, cheese, fish and fish products, and fruit and vegetables and their products.”

P100 is a bacteriophage that selectively destroys the food poisoning bacteria, Listeria, helping to improve the safety of ready-to-eat foods. Bacteriophage are harmless to plants, animals and humans. They do not alter the properties of food and break down into natural compounds such as amino acids.

While Listeria has little impact on healthy people, it can cause severe illness in people with reduced immune systems such as pregnant women and their babies, young children, cancer patients, people with HIV/AIDS, and the elderly.

The use of bacteriophage preparations to treat food has been approved in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands.

Following the call for submissions there will be a further assessment period before it is considered by the FSANZ Board in around July 2012.

The period for submissions closes on 27 April 2012.

• Application A1045 – Bacteriophage Preparation P100 as a Processing Aid
• Bacteriophages and food – fact sheet

Media contact

Phone: 0401 714 265 (Australia) or +61 401 714 265 (from New Zealand)

Email: media@foodstandards.gov.au

A case is in front of the Federal Court currently that should send a warning to all food businesses with food labelling.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has the responsibility for monitoring compliance to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (or what was the Trade Practice Act 1974).

The court case has been taken by the ACCC against an egg supplier in South Australia who between March 2007 and October 2010 allegedly supplied eggs that were represented as being free range when a substantial proportion were actually caged eggs.

The ACCC alleges that such conduct contravened section 55 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (now known as the Competition and Consumer Act 2010).

The final part of the hearing is scheduled for the end of March, and the supplier may then be required to pay both penalties and costs as well as attend training and apologising to all customers.

This is a loud warning to all those food businesses that have food labels. Tell the truth and don’t state anything on the label that is not able to be proven.

The following information is included  here with permission from Food Standards Australia new Zealand.

Please find below information on a recent Australian consumer level food recall. This information is also available on our website at www.foodstandards.gov.au

Vitaco Health Australia has recalled all flavours of Healtheries Kidscare Rice Wheels and Healtheries Wiggles Ricey Bites Cheese flavour from supermarkets nationally due to foreign matter (glass). Products containing glass may cause injury if consumed.

Date notified to FSANZ – 2 March 2012

Food type

Mixed and/or processed food

Product name

• Healtheries Kidscare Rice Wheels Roast Chicken
• Healtheries Kidscare Rice Wheels Burger
• Healtheries Kidscare Rice Wheels Cheese
• Healtheries Wiggles Ricey Bites Cheese

Package description & size

The products are a bite-sized seasoned puffed rice cake in flo-wrap packaging.

The Rice Wheels are available in 180g multipacks (10 x 18g individual packets).

The Wiggles Ricey Bites are available in 120g multipacks (8 x 15g individual packets)

Date marking –All best before dates up to and including 4/01/13

Country of origin – Indonesia

Reason for recall– Foreign matter contamination (glass)

Distribution

The product has been available nationally at Coles, Woolworths, Safeway, The Reject Shop, IGA and other independent supermarkets. The product has also been sold online.

Consumer advice

Consumers should not eat these products and should return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Contact – Vitaco Health Australia – 1800 028 808

The Name and Shame List from the NSW Food Authority has more than 100 food businesses that have been non compliant in pest control.

This has prompted the Authority to a concentrated focus on pest control and infestation in it’s current inspections. It is also requesting that local councils adopt the same focus to reduce the amount of pest infestations and non compliances.

NSW Food Authority Acting Chief Executive Officer Craig Sahlin said; “NSW consumers rightly expect high standards from businesses where they are purchasing or eating food. Eradicating pests is particularly important at this time of year when the weather is generally warmer. Common pests such as cockroaches, rats and mice are attracted to food debris. They also can carry bacteria and viruses, and can contaminate food and food contact surfaces. So I urge businesses to keep things clean and control pests. Pest sightings and food contamination due to pests can also result in a large number of food complaints.”

Pest should be build out, blocked out and prevented as part of a business’s pest control program with sprays and baits / traps as the last lines of defence.

In NSW the fine for pest issues can be more than $880 plus the business name and non-compliance details included in the Authority’s Name and Shame List.

The 2012 Positive Image Awards will be presented later this year. These awards will recognise organisations that foster positive body image in youth. It is aimed at people aimed 15 – 25.

It is well recognised that images in the media, and on products, has an impact on how young people see themselves and what they do about that. Images of super skinny people who do not look like the majority of the population do not generally help the youth of our country and these Awards are a way that can encourage people and businesses to portray positive and real images on products and in advertising.

The Awards were announced recently by Mr Peter Garrett, the Federal Minister for Early Childhood and Youth, and are being sponsored by the Federal Government.

Whilst announcing the Awards, Mr Garrett said; “The Government has endorsed and released a Voluntary Industry Code of Conduct on Body Image, which outlines principles and goals to guide industries to adopt more body image friendly practices. Those organisations that have adopted the principles outlined in the code and provide incentive for others to follow their lead will now be recognised through the Positive Body Image Awards.

There will be two categories for entry;

• Recognition of organisations demonstrating a real and ongoing commitment to body image friendly practices within their business; and
• Recognition of specific body image friendly initiatives or products, this could include a campaign to increase young people’s awareness about digital retouching, a magazine edition or a special body image event.

Nominations can be by the businesses themselves or their customers, but youth are being encouraged to get involved in the process and nominate organisations through the website and social media.

The winning organisations will be able to use the winner symbol on products and in promotional material. This is a great sustainability practice and opportunity.

Nominations can be made through the website, www.youth.gov.au/bodyimageawards, and are open until 23 March 2012. The finalists will be announced in May.