Industry Code of Practice for plant-based food labelling

The dairy, red meat, chicken and seafood industries have long advocated for accurate labelling when it comes to plant-based food alternatives to ensure that consumers are not confused — especially when it comes to what ingredients the product contains and its purported nutritional equivalence or similarity with other products.

The Australian Government has been working with all related industries to improve the labelling of plant-based and alternative protein products. After many working groups with stakeholders in 2021, 2022 and 2024, the current labelling requirement now prevents plant-based alternatives from using meat or dairy terms exclusively on their labelling or in advertising. Plant-based alternatives can, however, use meat or dairy terms with qualifiers — for example ‘plant-based meat’ or ‘dairy-free soy milk’. There are no restrictions on terms like burger, mince or steak which describe the utility rather than the composition of the product.

As there was limited research on whether or not consumers are confused by plant-based food product labelling, the department commissioned Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) in 2025 to undertake consumer and market research on consumer understanding of plant-based alternative labelling.

The research focussed on front-of-pack labelling elements such as meat and dairy terminology, animal imagery and the use of qualifiers (like ‘soy’ or ‘plant-based’). It was undertaken in three parts:

• a rapid review of the literature to identify evidence gaps
• a market survey of labels on plant-based protein and dairy alternatives currently for sale in Australia
• a consumer survey using a randomised controlled trial to test the effect of different labelling elements on consumer understanding.

The FSANZ research found that the majority of consumers can accurately identify the ingredient content of plant-based protein products and dairy alternatives, are confident in the intended use of these products, and do not believe they are nutritionally similar to an animal product counterpart. However, four of its surveys found that around 6–12% of Australian consumers reported having mistakenly purchased a plant-based protein product and some international studies suggested that it is animal imagery, rather than dairy terminology, that can cause confusion for consumers.

With the rising trend in protein-based food products, the government is now taking its next step in ensuring the continued consistency and success of plant-based and alternative-protein labelling by strengthening existing voluntary labelling guidelines through the development of an Industry Code of Practice, led by the Alternative Proteins Council.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins MP said: “Australian consumers should be able to clearly identify both traditional and alternative protein sources.

“That’s why the development of an industry Code of Practice will improve existing voluntary labelling guidelines, and ensure produce is readily identifiable for Australian consumers.”

The voluntary Code will be designed to provide clearer guidance to plant-based producers by discouraging animal imagery, limiting meat specific terminology, improving the prominence of plant-based qualifiers and establishing a transparent complaints mechanism.

Image credit: iStock.com/Aleksandra Abramova