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Health, Nutrition and Related Claims: Enabling Provisions in New Zealand Law

5 Objectives

In considering measures to give legal effect to the Transitional Standard 1.1A.2 and the proposed Health Claims Standard, NZFSA has four principal objectives.

1. The first objective is to allow for the continued sale of products carrying the folate health claim beyond the expiry of the Medicines (Related Products (Exempted Foods)) Regulations 2003 on 13 August 2007. If measures to continue the exemption for the folate health claim are not taken, packaging will have to be relabelled to remove the claim, thus imposing unnecessary costs on industry. The folate health claim is also part of a wider public health initiative encouraging at-risk groups to increase their consumption of folate. Removing the ability for the health claim to be applied to qualifying products will hamper this initiative.

2. The second objective is to meet New Zealand’s statutory obligation under the Food Act 1981 and our obligation under the Food Treaty to give legal effect to standards in the Code. This obligation is framed by the wider Trans Tasman Mutual Recognition Arrangement (TTRMA) under which the Food Treaty sits.

3. The third objective is to ensure the integrity and adequacy of information provided to consumers by manufacturers and retailers in relation to food products and to provide consequences should that information be misleading.

4. The fourth objective is to provide a clear framework and administrative process through which products can be developed bearing health claims and in which industry can be confident they are meeting the requirements of New Zealand law.