Standard 1.2.7 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code on Nutrition, Health and Related Claims became compulsory on January 18 this year. The standard was introduced three years ago, with food businesses given the transition period to adjust to the new requirement, though any health claims still had to comply with either the 1.2.7 standard or the Transitional Standard 1.1A.2.
The Standard 1.2.7 says all specific health claims must be either covered on the Food Standards list of pre-approved health claims or the food business must have robust scientific evidence for the health claim.
General health claims, such as “good for you” or “healthy choice” are too generalised, the Ministry for Primary Industry’s lawyers said last Thursday in a Court of Appeal case against New Zealand Honey International.
NZ Honey has appealed the High Court decision last November which found its trademarks, Manuka Doctor and Manuka Pharma, amount to health claims after MPI withdrew export approvals for the products. MPI says the term Manuka Doctor implies a therapeutic benefit from use of the honey, while NZ Honey says there is no identifiable health claim from the trademark.
MPI’s lawyers said the NZ Honey case was somewhat of a test case for the regulations. The judges questioned the limits of MPI’s arguments, which would ban the use of “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” and “make a healthy choice” in reference to fruit and vegetables, but would permit reference to a high intake of fruit and vegetables reducing the risk of coronary heart disease.
Paula Dudley, the general manager of United Fresh New Zealand, a produce industry body, said the new regulations were a great opportunity for fruit and vegetable growers, with global research and evidence supporting increased produce consumption.
Chief executive of the Food and Grocery Council Katherine Rich said the changes were very positive, and there was a need to “tidy up the rules” to give consumers confidence in product labelling.
“I’ve seen products which have high level health claims made which simply aren’t substantiated by good science or research,” Rich said. “There have been people who, on Facebook or in their own marketing materials, have said some outrageous things, like apricot kernels cure cancer and things like that.
“There are a lot of food-health relationships which are well understood and accepted, like milk having calcium and being good for your bones. Food companies can now say more helpful things about their products than under the previous regime,” Rich said.
Sophie Boot
