Improving commercial foods for infants and young children

Food Ministers have agreed for the Food Regulation Standing Committee (FRSC) to progress work through the Food Regulation Policy Framework for improving commercial foods for infants and young children. A paper outlining the issues with this product category was provided to Food Ministers in December 2023.

In July 2024, Food Ministers approved a Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) on options to improve commercial foods for infants and young children, particularly in the areas of labelling, composition and texture. The Consultation RIS reviews the issues with this product category and proposes high-level options to address these issues through regulatory and non-regulatory approaches.

Stakeholders are invited to read the Consultation RIS and provide views on potential options to improve commercial foods for infants and young children. The consultation seeks information on current issues with commercial foods for infants and young children and how they align with infant feeding advice, the potential impact of the options proposed in the Consultation RIS, and whether there are any alternate options or implementation approaches that could be considered to address the issues observed in this food category.

The consultation will run for a 6-week period from 5–13 September 2024.

Stakeholders are invited to submit information in response to the questions in the Consultation RIS via the Department of Health and Aged Care Consultation Hub.

The FRSC will then analyse submissions received and use this information to finalise its advice to Food Ministers on options to improve commercial foods for infants and young children.

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