Food Labelling in Australia 101: What Food Businesses Need to Get Right

Food Labelling in Australia 101: What Food Businesses Need to Get Right

Food labels in Australia are meant to guide consumers, not to trick them – but between the Food Standards Code, the Australian Consumer Law, allergen rules and country‑of‑origin requirements, even honest, well‑run food businesses can find that a single word on the front or a missing detail on the back is enough to trigger a recall, a retailer dispute or a regulator’s attention.

Our clients tell us they just want to know, in plain English, what has to go on the label and what absolutely must not be there, and that is exactly where food law work usually starts. Australian food labelling law is not designed to trip you up, but in practice it can, and well‑intentioned brands can quickly find themselves in risky territory.

This article does not give legal advice for any particular product; instead, it maps the main pressure points and shows how a specialist food law practice can help you navigate them with more confidence.

1. The “boring bits” that cause big problems

Most food businesses know they need an ingredient list and a nutrition information panel. Fewer realise how often simple things like missing or incorrect mandatory information are behind enforcement action and recalls.

In Australia, every retail food label generally needs:

• A name or description that tells the truth about what the food is – the “true nature” test (for example, “wheat wraps with sourdough” rather than a vague marketing name alone).
• A statement of ingredients in descending order by ingoing weight, using names that match what the ingredient actually is (for example, “modified wheat starch (1412)”, “vegetable gum (412)”).
• A nutrition information panel in the required format.
• Date marking (best‑before or use‑by) appropriate to the product.
• A clear supplier name and address so the business can be contacted.
• Allergen information and, for packaged foods, the PEAL‑style “Contains …” summary.

Our experience is that these “boring bits” are where regulators and retailers look first. If a label is missing a mandatory element, or uses an ingredient name that does not reflect what is actually in the product, that can be a red flag. Food lawyers an review your artwork and supporting documents (like product data sheets) to check that your mandatory information lines up with what is really in the product and how it is made.

2. Allergen labelling –  small words, big risk

In Australia undeclared allergens are a leading cause of recalls. In fact, recent FSANZ data shows that undeclared allergens are the single biggest cause of food recalls in Australia. They make up roughly about half of all recalls, mostly because of basic labelling or packaging errors like the wrong label or a missing “Contains milk/wheat/etc.” statement.

These numbers come from FSANZ’s own food recall statistics and undeclared‑allergen recall summaries (https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/food-recalls/recallstats and https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/food-recalls/recallstats/allergen-stats).

What is less obvious from those headline figures is just how easy it is for businesses to fall foul of the fine print, especially under the newer Plain English Allergen Labelling requirements.

Mandatory allergen rules require:

• Use of set words like “milk”, “egg”, “wheat”, “soy”, “sesame”, “peanut”, “tree nuts” rather than only using technical ingredient names.
• Highlighting those words in bold in the ingredient list.
• A separate “Contains …” statement, using the required names and nothing else.

Our clients tell us they thought they were doing the right thing by spelling out “sodium caseinate” or “whey powder” and did not realise they still needed to say “milk” in bold and in the “Contains: milk” statement as well.

A careful food law review can also pick up other issues, such as allergens hidden inside compound ingredients, casual use of phrases like “may contain traces of …” where the VITAL assessment doesn’t really support it, and label layouts that make the allergen information hard to find or easy to miss.

3. Claims, claims and more claims

From a legal risk perspective, the front of pack can be more dangerous than the back.

Even if your label ticks every Food Standards Code box, consumer law still prohibits conduct that is misleading or deceptive (or likely to mislead or deceive), and false or misleading representations about things like the composition, quality, benefits or performance of your food.

Time and time again, we find is that in practice, this causes trouble when brands make bold nutrition claims like “high in protein”, “source of fiber”, “low sugar” or “keto‑friendly” without checking that they meet the exact conditions, or use health‑type language such as “immune support”, “gut‑friendly” or “helps you detox” where the science or dosage doesn’t really support the promise.

It also comes up where the overall look of the pack – for example, very “all‑natural” styling or lots of fruit imagery – gives an impression that doesn’t match the ingredient list.

Getting healthy? Words like  “boost”, “clean” or “detox”

Our clients tell us they didn’t realise that a single word on the front – like “boost”, “clean” or “detox” – can be enough to turn a description into a claim they then have to prove.

The same applies if you have trade marks, brand names or marketing taglines that hint at health, weight loss, energy or environmental benefits: regulators will look at the overall impression created by the brand as well as the small print, and if that impression suggests a specific benefit, you may be expected to substantiate it just as if you had written the claim out in full.

We can help you spot the legal issues and get them fixed fast.

4. Origin statements and “Aussie made” confidence

Country‑of‑origin is another area where many food businesses feel “we’ve got this” – until a retailer or regulator asks them to prove it.

The rules don’t just ask whether you’ve put a kangaroo logo on the pack; they ask whether that logo and wording are truly backed up by where your ingredients come from, how much processing happens here, and how your costs break down.

The common trouble spots are using “Made in Australia”‑style claims or the kangaroo logo without carefully calculating Australian content, mixing up phrases like “Product of Australia” and “Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients”, and having websites or socials that shout “100% Aussie” even when the pack is more cautious.

Our clients say things like:
“We know our product is mostly local, but we’re not sure what we’re actually allowed to say about it.”

A food law firm can help you turn that gut‑feel story into something that lines up with the legal tests and your paperwork.

Because every product is different, here we can can only highlight where some of the traps are. We can go through your draft labels, specs and origin data, point out where claims might be risky, and help your business choose the right words legally speaking.

One of our clients summed it up perfectly: “We don’t need a lecture on the law; we just want to know what’s safe to put on the label before we print 50,000 labels.

Sum up

Food labelling law is not there to stop you selling food; it is there to make sure what you sell and what you say match up, from the smallest allergen word to the loudest “detox” or “Aussie made” claim, so the businesses that thrive are the ones that can tell a true story about their products and prove it when asked.

Checklist – Ten food labelling mistakes to avoid in Australia

1. Leaving out required details under the Food Standards Code.
2. ​Using vague names that hide the food’s true nature.
3. ​Listing ingredients in the wrong order or with unclear names.
4. ​Missing or non‑compliant allergen declarations.
5. Making nutrition claims without meeting the criteria.
6. ​Using health‑type phrases without strong evidence.
7. ​Over‑promising “natural” or “fruit” content through design.
8. ​Using “Made in Australia” or the kangaroo logo without proper origin checks.
9. ​Making bolder origin or health claims online than on pack.
10. ​Not updating labels when recipes, suppliers or rules change.

---

Please note the above article is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice.

Please email us info@iplegal.com.au if you need legal advice about your brand or another legal matter in this area generally.