Food and Health Dialogue Communique
The Australian Government’s Food and Health Dialogue is continuing its role as a key plank in the Government’s effort to reduce salt intake across the population.
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26 March 2012
“The Australian Government’s Food and Health Dialogue continues its role as a key plank in the Government’s effort to reduce salt intake across the population”, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing, Catherine King said today.
This week is World Salt Awareness Week and aims to highlight the role salt plays in the development of many diet-related diseases.
“As a population, Australians consume too much sodium – primarily in the form of salt. More than three-quarters of the salt we eat comes from manufactured and pre-prepared foods. Excess salt consumption has been linked with an increased risk of high blood pressure, which is a risk factor for heart attack, kidney disease and stroke”.
The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends that Australian adults limit their intake of salt to no more than 6 grams (or 1½ teaspoons) a day.
Bread, processed meats, breakfast cereals, cheese and commercially-produced condiments and sauces are some of the largest contributors to salt intakes in Australia.
“With processed foods now forming such a large part of the Australian diet, the influence of manufacturers and retailers over what we eat has never been greater”.
“This is where the role of the Food and Health Dialogue is so important and we have continued to make significant gains in reducing the amount of sodium in the Australian food supply. As a result of the work of the Dialogue, reformulation within the bread sector alone has removed approximately 1000 tonnes of salt from the Australian food supply every year”, Ms King said.
Most recently, the Dialogue has engaged the savoury pie sector and they have agreed to reduce the sodium content of wet pies with more than 400 mg sodium and dry pies with more than 500 mg sodium by 10% over two years. This has been another significant step in addressing sodium intake.
Members of the Dialogue met in Canberra on Friday, 23 March 2012 and discussed progress against key milestones and priorities. Items included:
An update on the Point of Sale Kilojoule menu labelling
Members were advised that the Principles for introducing Point-of-Sale Nutrition Information at Standard Food Outlets were endorsed by the Legislative and Governance Forum on Food Regulation (formerly the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council) on 12 October 2011. A number of jurisdictions have commenced work in this area with New South Wales introducing legislation in February 2011 which requires fast food outlets to display kilojoule information at the point of sale. Dr Lisa Szabo, the Chief Scientist at the New South Wales Food Authority, provided members with an update on the Point of Sale kilojoule menu labeling in NSW.Progress reports – Industry Roundtables
Participants on the bread, breakfast cereal, processed meat and simmer sauce roundtables are continuing their reformulation efforts under the Dialogue. Summaries of their next progress reports are due to in the next few months and will be provided to Dialogue members at the next meeting.Company Action Plan – Soup Roundtable
On 25 November 2012, the Parliamentary Secretary publicly announced the agreed reformulation targets for participants of the soup roundtable. Members were provided with a summary of soup company action plans.As part of their company action plans, participants on the soup roundtable committed to reduce the sodium content of more than 35 products by the end of 2014. Participants will report back to the Dialogue on progress against their commitments annually with the first progress report due in February 2013.
Savoury Pies
Members noted that participants of the savoury pie roundtable agreed to proposed reformulation targets in March 2012.Leading Manufacturers Homestyle Bake, Mrs Macs, Patties Pies, Peerless Foods
and Vili’s along with major retailers Woolworths, Coles and ALDI are working collaboratively with the Australian Government and public health groups to provide healthier choices for consumers.
Companies have agreed to:
- a ten per cent reduction in sodium across wet savoury pies exceeding 400 mg/100 g of sodium;
- a ten per cent reduction in sodium across dry savoury pies exceeding 500 mg/100 g of sodium; and
- further investigate the reduction of saturated fat in March 2013.
The products targeted and the amount of sodium reduction per year will be determined by the individual companies involved.
Next Priority Food Categories
The next categories to be engaged under the Dialogue are potato and corn chips, savoury crackers, noodles and condiments. Members noted the category definitions which will be used as the basis for data collection.Review of National and International Programs
A summary of CSIRO’s review of programs investigating national and international initiatives that are similar in scope to the Dialogue has been made available on the Dialogue’s website (www.foodhealthdialogue.gov.au).Dietary Intake Modelling
Members noted the key findings of the report provided by FSANZ on its dietary exposure analyses for the simmer sauce category. The report found that:- Simmer sauce reformulation will potentially result in a small reduction in sodium intakes for some population groups.
- The proportion of each population group consuming more than the recommended upper level is reduced slightly for some groups.
- There are greater benefits, potentially over ten per cent reduction in sodium intake, for ‘brand loyal’ individuals.
FSANZ will undertake dietary intake assessments for further food categories (processed meat) and will also conduct an analysis of the cumulative effect of sodium reformulation activities for bread, breakfast cereal, simmer sauce and processed meat together.
Engagement with the Quick Service Restaurant sector (QSR)
Members endorsed a draft strategy for engaging the QSR sector in Dialogue activities. The final strategy will be provided to members at the August meeting. This draft strategy will be the basis for consultations with the sector over the coming months.Members of the Food and Health Dialogue are:
The Hon Catherine King, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing (Chair)
Mr Steve McCutcheon, Chief Executive Officer, Food Standards Australia New Zealand
Dr Lyn Roberts, Chief Executive Officer, National Heart Foundation of Australia
Mr Andrew Hall, Director Corporate and Public Affairs, Woolworths
Dr Manny Noakes, Senior Dietitian and Research Scientist, CSIRO
Mr Michael Moore, Chief Executive Officer, Public Health Association of Australia
Ms Kate Carnell, Chief Executive Officer Australian Food and Grocery Council
Ms Patricia Carter, Principal Advisor-Public Health Nutrition, Health Promotion Branch, Public Health and Clinical Systems, SA Health
Ms Tracey Monaghan, Director of Quality Assurance ANZ, McDonald’s Australia (Quick Service Restaurant Forum representative)
For more information please contact the Parliamentary Secretary’s Office on 02 6277 4230
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