New Food Standard 1.2.7 – Nutrition, Health and Related Claims

Posted by Benefitz Admin on May 13 2013 in News

All food businesses need to be aware of the introduction of a new food standard which has significantly changed the nutrition and health claims that can be made on labels and advertising of food.

The new standard 1.2.7 became law on 18 January 2013. It will work alongside the current transitional standard 1.1A.2 for a period of three years. Food businesses may chose to either comply with the transitional standard or the new standard for this three year period, but not both. At the expiry of the three year period businesses must comply with the new standard.

The new standard aims to reduce the risk of misleading consumers on nutrition and health claims by bringing clarity and scientific substantiation to voluntary statements made by food businesses on their labels and advertising.

The transitional standard prevented food labels and advertisements from containing certain health claims. The new standard allows businesses to make nutrition and health claims provided they comply with the criteria specified under the standard.

The following claims are regulated under the new standard:

• Nutrition content claims which are claims made about the nutritional content of food e.g. “good source of calcium” or “low in cholesterol”. If these claims are being made the food must meet specific criteria (e.g. must contain a certain amount calcium or no more than a certain amount of cholesterol) as regulated in the new standard; and
• Health claims which refer to the relationship between a food and health rather than a statement of content. There are two types of health claims:
  • General level health claims which are claims made on the relationship between a food and a health effect e.g. “calcium is good for teeth and bones”. There are more than 200 pre-approved food relationships that food businesses can base their general level health claims on.
  • High level health claims which are health claims that refers to a serious disease or a biomarker of a serious disease e.g. “calcium may reduce the risk of osteoporosis for people aged 65 years and over”. There are currently 13 pre-approved food health relationships recorded under the new standard that food businesses can base their high level health claims on.

We recommend that all food businesses begin to review their food labels and advertising along with the requirements of the new standard to ensure that all products comply come full implementation of the new standard in 2016.

Shelley Eden

If you want to discuss the issues raised here, or have any other compliance queries, please contact

Shelley Eden Senior Associate
+64 9 300 8756

Brandon Chik Solicitor
+64 9 300 8751

This paper gives a general overview of the topics covered and is not intended to be relied upon as legal advice.