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Auditing the Australian front-of-pack food labelling scheme

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 67, page 1117 (2013)Cite this article

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The article by Carter et al.1 was not the first independent audit of Daily Intake Guide (DIG) labelling usage on Australian foods. My colleagues and I measured the extent of DIG labelling in six surveys from 2007 to 2009 and the last survey reported on 1939 foods in 26 categories.2 We also found a high proportion using only the ‘energy alone’ option for labelling, but this was not just restricted to energy-dense nutrient-poor snack foods. Many nutrient-dense foods such as yoghurt, cheese and bread also displayed energy only, whereas more than half of the confectionery was labelled with additional nutrients (Table 1).

Table 1 DIG labelling on Australian foods in August 20092
Full size table

In June 2013 the Australian government announced a new voluntary front-of-pack labelling system had been agreed with food industry, for introduction within the next 12 months.3 The new system will use a star rating scale of ½ to 5 stars, based on the energy, saturated fat, sodium, sugar and fibre content of foods, although smaller packages may still display only an energy icon without stars. It is to be hoped that this new system will provide clearer and more consistent information to assist consumers make healthier food choices.

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References

  1. Carter O, Mills B, Phan T . An independent audit of the Australian food industry’s volutary front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme for energy-dense nutrition-poor foods. Eur J Clin Nutr 2013; 67: 31–35.

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  2. Williams P, Duncan R, de Agnoli K, Hull A, Owers A, Wang T . Front of pack daily intake labelling on Australian packaged foods: introduction and use 2007-2009. Food Australia 2010; 62: 583–588.

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  3. Food Regulation Secretariat. Front of pack labelling. Canberra. Commonwealth of Australia 2013, Available at http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/foodsecretariat-front-of-pack-labelling-1 (accessed on 12 July 2013).

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  1. School of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia

    P G Williams

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  1. P G Williams
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Correspondence to P G Williams.

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Williams, P. Auditing the Australian front-of-pack food labelling scheme. Eur J Clin Nutr 67, 1117 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.154

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