South Africa pushes to revise food labelling regulations

THE PUBLIC has until 29 August 2014 to comment on South Africa’s amendments to the food labelling regulations R429, according to the SGS Food Safety Services. Amendments include major modifications in nutritional claims.

Revisions were made to the Food Labeling – Communication on Nutrition and Health Claims. In essence, these changes aim to make nutrition information mandatory for all food sold in South Africa, with a few exemptions.

In Restrictions on Health and Nutrient Claims, the amendments will help prevent false claims on products that do not meet the nutrition profile, as well as claims on foods containing artificial sweeteners, fructose, caffeine, aluminium as well as fluoride. Moreover, the amendments extend to packaging visuals, especially for foods targeted at children.

Also, health claims will now be allowed in South Africa as a list of allowable claims has now been published. This is supported by a guideline on the submission of new claims. Furthermore, other proposals for change are as follows:

  ?  Increase in text size requirements.
  ?  Specifications of product must be kept in a specified format and be accessible to the authorities within 2 working days.
  ?  Where a product displays a religious symbol the same product will need to be displayed on shelf with no religious symbols.
  ?  Health claims may no longer be promoted through brand names and products doing this will need to be removed.

If these regulations are published, the dates of implementation shall be staggered between immediate implementation and 36 months post publishing. For more information, go to Food Labeling regulations R429.
SGS Food Safety Services provides a comprehensive range of food safety and quality solutions including analytical testing, audits, certifications, claims inspections.