FSANZ Proposal P1067 to mandate the Health Star Rating system
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is currently consulting on a proposal to amend the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code to require packaged foods for sale in Australia and New Zealand to display a Health Star Rating symbol.
As a GS1 member, you may be considering the proposal’s potential impacts on your business, including how any decision to mandate the Health Star Rating would affect barcode number (Global Trade Item Number, GTIN) allocation.
Is a GTIN change required if the Health Star Rating becomes mandatory?
If you add a Health Star Rating to your product’s packaging and your product remains exactly the same, you do NOT need to assign a new GTIN to the product.
However, if you make other changes to your product as a result of a mandatory Health Star Rating requirement (eg, you reformulate the product or you are required to declare the algorithm components on the packaging), a GTIN change may be required.
The GTIN Management Standard and the GTIN decision support tool sets out what’s required – and should a decision be taken to mandate Health Star Ratings, GS1 New Zealand will consider whether additional guidance may be required.
FSANZ Proposal P1067 – Health Star Rating system
The first call for submissions on the proposal closed on Sunday 5 July.
Noting that GS1 New Zealand takes no views around the policy recommendation itself – our role is in standards and trusted data - we have submitted to FSANZ in order to make three key points:
The potential use of digital labels – eg, if declaration of algorithm components becomes a regulatory requirement;
The importance of FSANZ factoring in the impact of labelling/packaging regulatory changes to digital label information, and of supporting businesses with clear guidance about maintaining updated digital label information that matches the products sold in stores; and
The importance of FSANZ providing clear guidance for businesses that takes account of existing systems and processes already used by the industry to share digital data for ingredients, nutritional data, allergens and claims (such as GS1 NZ’s data services like On Pack and the National Product Catalogue that are relied upon by retailers such as Foodstuffs, Woolworths and agencies such as the Ministry for Primary Industries).
Support
Please reach out to the GS1 NZ Support team if you have any questions.
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