Red flags for new food labels in South Africa
Experts at Webber Wentzel say the new food labelling laws that the Department of Health wants to introduce may do more harm than good.
In April, the minister proposed changes to the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, which opened the Regulations Relating to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs for public comment.
The new regulations want to introduce a host of changes to food marketing, with the most notable being that items that are high in sugar and fat have to come with a warning – and to stop these items from being marketed to children.
The department said that it wants mandatory front-of-package labelling (FOPL) to be seen on any pre-packaged foodstuffs that contain added saturated fat, added sugar, added sodium and exceed the nutrient cut-off values for total sugar, total sodium or total saturated fatty acids.
A similar label must be used on products with artificial sweeteners.
Concerns
However, Yolandi Robbertse and Bernadette Versfeld from Webber Wentzel said that the new regulations would come at a massive cost to producers.
“Trademark portfolios will also need to be revised, requiring new trademark applications to be filed and amendments to existing trademarks. In respect of copyright portfolios, artworks will need to be amended and media and digital advertisements revised and reinstated,” Robbertse and Versfeld said.
“The significant costs associated with all these additional measures come at a time when brand owners are already confronted with a challenging economy. We note in this regard that the JSE’s food producers index is down by 16% with rising production and distribution costs, exacerbated by load-shedding.”
In addition, despite commending the draft acts intention to tackle South Africa’s rising levels of obesity and lifestyle diseases, the experts said that the draft regulations have gone too far and could see multinational companies exit the South African market.
They added that the draft regulations have the ability to do serious damage to companies that have spent decades building their brands and relationships with consumers.
The South African approach appears to be based on a combination of the European Union (EU), Australian and Chilean approaches, with the most restrictive measures coming from Chile.
Although Chile adopted extremely strict regulations in 2016 to address childhood obesity, Chile’s obesity rate climbed from 51.2% in 2016 to 58% in 2022
Robbertse and Versfeld said that recent studies have shown that there is limited evidence that unhealthy food advertising affects dietary behaviour.
They added that the models used in Australia, Canada or the EU – whilst still imposing strict requirements – are better for businesses than the Chilean model.
There is also a risk that the additional costs related to compliance with FOPL and extensive warning signs will be passed onto consumers who are already facing heightened food inflation.
“While it is important to ensure that manufacturers are honest about their products and do not claim benefits that do not exist, these regulations, unfortunately, go well beyond that,” Robbertse and Versfeld said.
“Consumers and the industry alike can only hope that government takes the comments received into account and consider the potentially devastating impact that the regulations may have on the South African economy.”
The deadline for public comment on the Regulations Relating to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs is 21 July 2023:
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