Public Consultation: Improving commercial foods for infants and young children
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.