Introducing a New Food in Australia Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Introducing a New Food in Australia - Assignment Example The Australian National Food Safety Standards has the role of labeling food standards to be introduce. In Australian Capital Territory (ACT) the agency responsible for ensuring the safety of food is the Health Protection Service (HPS) of ACT Health. The HPS under its Food Sampling Working Group (FSWG) looks after the development, overall implementation and co-ordination of the Food Survey Program (Program). These government agencies monitor the introduction of new food as well as supply to ensure that it is safe and pose no risk to the consumers. The new food should comply with standards for microbiological contaminants, pesticide residue limits and chemical contamination. Introduction of new food in Australia has to meet all the food surveillance data from public health units in Australia. This data includes the results of compliance testing, and specialty targeted surveys. If the new product is canned food then it comes under the Canned Food Information Service Inc (CFIS Inc) for the promotion and review of the product. The CFIS aims to convince consumers about the foods contained, and to dispel misconceptions and so generate increased purchases. The nutrition programme of CFIS is aimed to create the awareness of the influences of public opinion. After that the authority issue a license only after carrying out a comprehensive risk assessment process so that Australian environment and human health and safety would not be at risk. The national regulatory scheme does not look into the marketing issues of new food. The main objective of the authority is to provide an unambiguous recognition, under Commonwealth law. Nutrition labelling Mandatory nutrition labelling is necessary for the launch of any new food product as it has significant impacts on health in the community. The method of nutrition labelling divided into two steps, first, it identify the risk factors of diet-related disease and study their impact on health systems expenditure and the value of life. Secondly, it estimates the level of reduction in risk factors. Risk factors can be identified through diet-related diseases, which are associated with three risk factors, namely, obesity, hypertension and high blood cholesterol. It is no denying fact that nutrition information greatly influences consumer choice. According to an American study of the impact of the introduction of mandatory nutrition labelling the consumers principally respond to negative nutrition information. Nutrition labelling really boosts the consumer behaviour as it reduces the risk factors. In Australia food products that carry nutrition labels is considered as healthy. A nutritional analysis programme is vital for any new food product to know the size and complexity of the product and a careful assessment of the resources, skills, courage and discipline required to progress the task to completion (Scheelings 1987). The programme is more about data evaluation, which identifies the critical elements of quality assurance. The Nutrition Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has developed work programme for the current revision of the Australian food tables. The work programme is composed of four components: the analytical programme; the processing and validation of food composition data and preparation for publication; the establishment of the Australian Nutrient Data Bank to store and process data; and the development of the