Who can join
We want as many companies as possible to join the program.
It doesn’t matter how big or small your company is, or how many products you make.
The program focuses on retail food products, but we encourage all food businesses to improve the nutritional profile of their products. If you make products that are intended for food service, consider applying the targets to those products too.
Join the program
You can let us know at any time that your company would like to join the program, regardless of reporting dates and timeframes.
Send your completed sign-up form to the Healthy Food Partnership Secretariat.
Program timeframes
Each wave of targets has an implementation period of 4 years.
Breakfast cereal targets have an implementation period of 5 years.
The time you join the Partnership Reformulation Program does not change the implementation time frames i.e. targets are to be achieved by 2024 for Wave 1 and 2025/6 for Wave 2 regardless of when a company joins the Program
What you commit to
When you join the program, you’re showing that your company wants to work towards implementing the reformulation targets.
Your company is committing to:
- Aiming to meet the reformulation targets for 80% of products, by sales volume, for each of the product categories
- show that it is working towards reformulating the remaining 20% of products.
When you sign up, you are not committing to individual targets. But you are showing you intend to work towards the suite of targets as far as reasonably practical.
No penalties
The program is voluntary, so there is no penalty if your company doesn’t meet the targets.
Which targets apply to you
If you aren’t sure what target category your products belong to, see the:
If you are still unsure you can contact the Healthy Food Partnership Secretariat.
We know that you might not have local control over how a product is formulated. By joining the program you are showing your intent to work towards the targets as best as you possibly can.
Deciding how to reformulate your products
We don’t tell you how to reformulate your products to reduce risk nutrients such as sugar. If your company does choose to replace sugar with artificial sweeteners, for example, these have been assessed and found safe for use in food.
You can find out more about artificial sweeteners from Food Standards Australia and New Zealand.
Target reviews and changes
We will not review targets over the 4-year implementation period. But we will consider holding stakeholder roundtables at the end of years 2 and 4 to assist with evaluation.
Roundtables can help identify targets we may consider adjusting due to feasibility or food safety concerns that food companies might encounter during the implementation process.
Why we don’t set targets for some foods
There are no targets for some kinds of food, such as chocolate or ice cream. Reasons for this include the composition of certain categories of foods, and that it is currently not technologically feasible to reduce certain risk nutrients in foods like this.
The Industry Guide to Voluntary Serving Size Reduction includes recommended serving sizes for some of these foods. This work complements the Partnership Reformulation Program as another approach to help Australians reduce their intakes of discretionary foods and associated risk nutrients
Reporting
When to report
Following your company’s commitment to the program, we will provide you with a Partnership Reformulation Program Reporting and Monitoring template.
Use this template to report baseline nutritional content of your products and to report on your progress at year 2 and year 4 (and at year 5 for breakfast cereals).
Wave 1 reporting dates
- Record baseline nutrition data as at July 2020, or the first of the month in which a company signs up (if joining post 2020)
- Submit progress reports in June 2024.
Wave 2 reporting dates
- Record baseline nutrition data as at July 2021, or the first of the month in which a company signs up (if joining post 2021).
- Submit progress reports in June 2023 and June 2025.
- For breakfast cereals, progress reports are due in June 2023 and June 2026.
What to report
Record the nutritional content and details of your products in the Partnership Reformulation Program Reporting and Monitoring template, including:
- products that already meet the targets
- products which don’t meet the targets
- any changes to products between reporting periods
- barcode or stock keeping unit (SKU) for each reported product
- Whether products are new to market or delisted since baseline
This will help us get a picture of the whole food supply.
What we publish
If your company pledges commitment to the Partnership Reformulation Program, you can choose to be listed on our website.
You do not have to be listed on the site to participate in the program.
We will preface all acknowledgements of company involvement on the website with the statement ‘Some of Australia’s major food manufacturers have committed to the Partnership Reformulation Program targets for relevant categories. The following companies would like to be identified:’.
Protecting your data
We de-identify and aggregate the data that you report to us. This means it can’t be used to identify specific product information or sales volumes.
Some information you report may be subject to Freedom of Information (FOI) requirements. If data is requested under FOI provisions, we will assess it to be sure it is not sensitive or exempt – for example, if the data is commercially valuable.
Information brochure
This information brochure provides a handy summary of the Partnership Reformulation Program.
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