FoodLegal

A summary of food regulatory developments for September 2020.

In November 2019, the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation (the Forum) endorsed plans to modernise the food regulatory sphere through a series of reviews and reforms. The Forum, along with other regulatory bodies, is currently undertaking an extensive assessment of the joint regulatory framework for food industries in Australia and New Zealand.

Several types of vegetable oils are consumed as part of the daily diet as a result of incorporation into in food product formulations, addition by the consumer during cooking or use as part of a meal. Traditionally, the big four - soybean, palm, rapeseed/canola and sunflower oils - have dominated the market of edible vegetable oils. However, emerging nutrition trends have expanded the range of vegetable oils being used on a daily basis. These include olive oil, coconut oil, walnut oil, hemp oil, avocado oil, rice bran oil and numerous others. This article provides a comparative summary of many different vegetable oils and compares their cooking qualities and oxidative stability, use of preservatives, nutritional, health and safety aspects. Finally, the article discusses some fraudulent practices in relation to vegetable oils.

The convenience of capsule, pill and tablet formats may prevail over more traditional food formats such as powders and liquids, particularly for consumption and dosage purposes. Capsule, pill and tablet formats are commonly used in medicines, but can these formats ever be used when selling food in Australia? This article also explores the different aspects of the food-medicine interface, the key questions to consider when ascertaining whether a product is a food or therapeutic good (such as a complementary medicine), and whether and when a product that might qualify as a New Zealand supplemented food might be treated differently, and other issues to consider for a food which is sold in a unique format.