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Magazines Archives - 2008 April
Changes in food code proposed
for Australia and New Zealand
Story 14
THE Food Standards Australia New
Zealand (FSANZ) is proposing amendments to the Australia New
Zealand Food Standards Code that include allowing a higher level
of higher cadmium in peanuts.
The proposed amendments to the code are open for comment from
individuals and organisations with an interest in the regulation
of food, and could affect strategies of companies exporting food
products to the two markets Down Under.
The FSANZ is an independent statutory agency that sets the food
standards for Australia and New
Zealand. The agency is part of the Australian government’s
health-and-ageing portfolio.
“The public-comment process ensures that [the] FSANZ has as much
evidence ... as possible on which to base its decisions,” the
agency said.
One of the proposed amendments entails raising the existing
maximum level of cadmium in peanuts. The proposal stemmed from
an application filed by the Confectionery Manufacturers
of Australasia Limited, which wants flexibility in sourcing
peanuts from a variety of countries to meet demand.
Cadmium has been associated with lung cancer, but there has been
no conclusive study linking the element to the disease.
Observing that most countries do not impose a limit on the
element in peanuts, the FSANZ has proposed to up the maximum
level to 0.5mg per kg of peanuts from 0.1mg, and welcomes
comment on the issue.
Also up for discussion is a proposal from the Australian
Beverage Council Ltd to permit the voluntary addition of
fluoride as a nutrient in packaged water at up to 1.5mg per
litre, as well as to set a cap on hydrocyanic acid in
ready-to-eat cassava chips. “Such measures, if complied with,
would reduce the dietary exposure of consumers to hydrocyanic
acid from this food product,” the FSANZ noted. |
