Public Consultation: Improving commercial foods for infants and young children

Closes 13 Sep 2024

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Option 1: Status Quo

Description
This section describes the status quo in relation to government and industry action underway to regulate and improve commercial foods for infants and young children in Australia and New Zealand. In summary, there is some regulation of the composition and labelling of commercial foods for infants, less so for foods aimed at young children noting many products aimed at this age group are not captured by a specific food standard. While education to parents is delivered - such as the information provided through the Australian Infant Feeding Guidelines - the coverage of these programs may not reach all families, and the convenience of packaged foods may be a key factor in infant and young child feeding decisions. This means products may continue to have multiple claims of products with the potential to cause consumer confusion as to the appropriateness of the product in the diets of infants and young children.

8. Are the risks and limitations associated with the status quo described appropriately?

Option 1: Risks and limitations

Risks and limitations
Maintaining the status quo confers the following risks: 

  • Commercial foods for infants and young children may not align with Australian and New Zealand infant and toddler feeding guidelines. 
  • Some products will continue to provide excess sugar and sodium for some age groups, with limited iron content and inadequate texture progression. 
  • Continued long-term health and developmental impacts for children reliant on these foods.
  • Labelling of products will continue to potentially cause consumer confusion as to their nutritional content, which is contrary to food regulatory system objectives.