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Industrially produced trans fats in processed foods

Have your say

This consultation is being led by the Australian Government, on behalf of the Food Regulation Standing Committee.

New Zealand and Australia share a joint food regulation system for the composition and labelling of foods.

In November 2020, the trans-Tasman Food Ministers agreed to progress work to consider options to improve the composition of the food supply in relation to trans fats.

The desired outcome is to ensure industrially produced trans fats are eliminated or reduced as much as possible from the food supply in Australia and New Zealand to support all population groups to minimise consumption of trans fats.  

Three policy options (in addition to the status quo) have been proposed to achieve the desired outcome.

  1. Voluntary reformulation.
  2. Regulatory limits for industrial trans fats in processed foods.
  3. Prohibiting use of partially hydrogenated oils in processed foods.

We want to know your views on:

  • these potential options
  • their potential impact
  • whether there are any alternate options.

Your feedback will be used to identify a preferred policy option to recommend to the Food Ministers’ Meeting regarding potential changes to the food supply in relation to industrially produced trans fats.

The consultation will run for 6 weeks. It opened on 4 August and will close on 15 September 2023.

How to make a submission

All consultation documents, further information, and instructions for making a submission are on the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care website.

Industrially produced trans fats in processed foods – Australian Department of Health and Aged Care

Join a webinar to learn more

The Ministry for Primary Industries will be co-hosting a webinar for public health stakeholders and a webinar for the food industry at the end of August. The purpose of each webinar is to outline the information in the consultation materials and answer questions.

Online Stakeholder Forum: Public Health and Consumers

Date: Thursday, 24 August 2023
Time: 11am AEST/1pm NZST 

Online Stakeholder Forum: Industry

Date: Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Time: 1pm AEST/3pm NZST

To register your interest in attending a webinar, send your name and the sector you represent to food.policy@mpi.govt.nz

Submissions are public information

Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.

People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.

Official Information Act 1982 – NZ Legislation

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