Aim
Consider and decide what the food regulation system can do to improve commercial foods for infants and young children.
Leads
The leads for this activity are:
- the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
- NSW Health
- the Victorian Department of Health.
Authorisation
The food ministers agreed at their November 2020 meeting that the Food Regulation Standing Committee undertake this activity.
Status
This activity is at Step E (develop and evaluate options) of the Food Regulation Policy Framework.
We have developed a consultation regulatory impact statement (consultation RIS) to seek stakeholder views on the options to improve commercial foods for infants and young children. The consultation RIS:
- defines the problem with commercial foods for infants and young children
- outlines the potential options to address the problem.
FRSC will consider stakeholder submissions in their advice to Food Ministers on options to improve commercial foods for infants and young children.
For more information on the consultation, see Consultation on commercial foods for infants and young children | Food Regulation.
2023 – issues paper completed
We developed an issues paper (including a problem statement) on commercial foods for infants and young children.
The food ministers considered the issues paper at their December 2023 meeting. They asked us to progress this work as a priority.
2020 – background paper completed
We did an initial analysis to explore:
- the current regulatory environment for infant foods in Australia and New Zealand
- a comparison with international guidelines for infant feeding
- products sold for infants and toddlers in Australia.
This analysis included the background paper Commercial foods for early childhood: Australia and New Zealand. We presented this paper to the food ministers at their November 2020 meeting.
Related information
View all the activities to reduce chronic disease related to overweight and obesity.