Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has partnered with GS1 Australia to develop a public online database of branded product information for foods and beverages sold in Australia.
As a central and open source of food and beverage product information—including nutrient content—the FSANZ Branded Food Database aims to help people make healthier food choices while also supporting wider public health initiatives.
The comprehensive database will be populated by product information uploaded by brand owners, utilising GS1’s National Product Catalogue (NPC) or an online portal via methods such as the Australian Food and Grocery Council’s (AFGC) Product Information Form (PIF) V6.
Using product data to support healthier futures
Working in collaboration with Australian and New Zealand governments, FSANZ develops food standards that help to achieve their vision of ensuring a safe food supply that supports the health of people across both countries.
With the launch of its Branded Food Database, FSANZ will make brand-specific product information openly available to a wide range of stakeholders—including food manufacturers, academics, health professionals, policymakers, and consumers.
As a result, the organisation is aiming to empower people to make healthier decisions around the food and beverage products they purchase and consume, while encouraging the industry as a whole to benchmark their products and improve transparency across the market.
In addition, the database will assist with national public health and nutrition initiatives, such as the Healthy Food Partnership Reformulation Program and the Health Star Rating System, in collaboration with the Australian Government.
By offering a centralised source of accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date product information, the FSANZ Branded Food Database will bring greater visibility into the nutrient content of food and beverage products sold in Australia.
| From transparency to responsibility: How the Branded Food Database will benefit industry
FSANZ’s Branded Food Database will bring a wide range of benefits to manufacturers and retailers across the food and beverage sector. The introduction of a central, public database for brand-specific information will: ● Provide transparency into branded products, with data made openly available to consumers and other stakeholders. ● Assist the food sector with evidence-based standards and regulatory development. ● Enable evaluation of the potential impact of changes to the Food Standards Code, such as updated labelling requirements. ● Result in fewer ad hoc requests for product information, enabling increased efficiencies. ● Benefit Corporate Social Responsibility efforts via greater accountability and visibility. ● Allow product data to be leveraged for other uses, such as sharing information with retailers to support ecommerce activities. ● Encourage brand owners to ensure their product data is correct and up-to-date—which in turn will benefit online retail efforts. ● Accelerate the move to product digitisation and the many opportunities it affords manufacturers and retailers. |
A comprehensive view of consumption patterns
As the Branded Food Database continues to grow into the future, there is an exciting opportunity to link other datasets in order to provide a more comprehensive view of food and nutrient consumption patterns in Australia.
In addition, the creation of a public website to support the online database means that members of the public can easily search and access certain subsets of the product data, resulting in greater transparency into the products they buy and consume.
FSANZ is aiming to have product information for 85% of all packaged food and beverage products sold by Australian retailers loaded and available by the end of 2023.
Leveraging industry data standards
In order to provide product information to the Branded Food Database, data can either be uploaded via GS1’s NPC or directly through an FSANZ online portal using alternative systems such as the AFCG’s PIF V6.
As a certified solution provider for both GS1 NPC and the AFGC’s PIF V6 accredited portal, Bizcaps is uniquely positioned to support participating brand owners with the Branded Food Database, from data preparation to managing product information updates.
Our local support team can offer expert guidance, enabling a simple and streamlined solution for providing and maintaining accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date product information to FSANZ’s database.
To find out more about our product master data solutions for the food and beverage industry, visit www.bizcaps.com/food-and-beverage
| About Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ)
FSANZ is an independent statutory agency established by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 (FSANZ Act). FSANZ is part of the Australian Government’s Health portfolio. FSANZ develops standards that regulate the use of ingredients, processing aids, colourings, additives, vitamins and minerals. The Food Standards Code also covers the composition of some foods, such as dairy, meat and beverages, as well as foods developed by new technologies such as genetically modified foods. In addition, FSANZ is responsible for some labelling requirements for packaged and unpackaged food, e.g. specific mandatory warnings or advisory labels. FSANZ also develops Australia-only primary production and processing standards. |