New Zealand and Australian food safety authorities have given themselves a year to nut out improved nutritional information on packaging for food.

At a food safety forum in Melbourne, Ministers from both countries agreed that the food industry needs to improve front of pack nutrition and ingredient labelling for consumers.

Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson attended the Food Regulation Forum in Australia and says officials there committed to developing of a new universal labelling system – with the work to be completed by December 2012.

However, Kate Wilkinson also noted that New Zealand objected to such a short timeframe for the new label’s development.

She says it is a complicated issue, and that it is vital that unnecessary costs aren’t placed on New Zealand businesses and households.   

The Ministers also ditched the recommendation from health officials to implement traffic light labelling – where foods are denoted a green, orange or red light depending on their nutritional value.       

Katherine Rich, chief executive of the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council,  welcomed the move to abandon the traffic light labelling system which she says is too simplistic.

“Well it can end up being a very confusing form of labelling because most people will look at a red light and think that means stop eating all together.

"And if people do that the food industry worries that people could actually have an unhealthy diet missing out foods such as whole milk, marmite, cheese, even honey would get a red light.”

Katherine Rich says the food industry prefers the percentage daily intake labelling that currently exists.

However, she says she too is concerned about the 12 month deadline for officials to come up with a new labelling system.

“I’m surprised that it’s a 12 month timeline and I think concerns have been raised about this by our own New Zealand representatives as well.

"It’s a very short timeframe for something that is a complex set of questions to ask.” 

Meanwhile, submissions are currently open regarding the use of hemp seeds in food.

The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Authority is considering legalising the sale of hemp seeds in food.

Hemp seed is used in food products throughout much of the Western world but banned in New Zealand due to it containing miniscule levels of THC – the active ingredient in marijuana.

Hemp is currently grown in New Zealand and its oil extracted for use in skin products, the rest sold as animal feed.   

Submissions are open until February.