Pregnancy warning labels are to become mandatory on alcoholic beverages under new recommendations agreed to by the Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation.
The Minister with portfolio responsibility for food regulation, Senator Richard Colbeck said the manufacturers of the beverages would have three years to implement the ‘Pregnancy Warning’ label across all alcoholic drinks.
“The Australian Government is strongly committed to mandatory pregnancy warning labels on alcoholic beverages to inform pregnant women and the broader community of the advice for pregnant women to not consume alcohol in order to prevent Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD),” Senator Colbeck said.
“The decisions made today underpin the efforts across the sector to improve standards and ensure the health of consumers, while giving consideration to the pressures on producers,” he said.
Senator Colbeck said the forum brought together all Australian State and Territory Ministers responsible for food, as well as the Commonwealth and New Zealand Ministers.
He said the Ministers had considered the review of mandatory pregnancy warning labels conducted by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).
“The review focused on the colours and signal wording in the draft pregnancy warning label design,” he said.
“The FSANZ Review Report proposed two amendments to the mandatory pregnancy warning labels and these were accepted by the Forum:- a change to the signal words from ‘Health Warning’ to ‘Pregnancy Warning’, and an extended transition period for implementation, from two years to three years.”
Senator Colbeck said an additional amendment was also proposed to remove the colour prescriptions for the warning label and adopt general legibility requirements.
