Policy Picks: EUDR confusion and postponement, WHO infant nutrition guidelines, Indonesia Nutri-Level labelling and more feature in our round-up

Confusion still rife: Malaysian palm oil sector extends call for EUDR criteria clarity amidst proposed postponement​

Malaysia’s palm oil industry representative body has argued that many aspects of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) still lack clarity, and that more transparency regarding its criteria is needed before it should be implemented.

The EUDR was initially set for formal implementation on 31 December 2024, but the European Commission (EC) recently announced a proposal for this to be postponed by 12 months ​to 30 December 2025, citing ‘feedback from international partners’ as its main reason amidst both intense internal and external pressures.

The EC also released a 48-page long guidance document for EUDR implementation in response to longstanding criticism by many producer markets ​regarding a lack of clarity – but according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), many crucial points still remain unclear.

No one-size-fits-all solution: Irresponsible of WHO to expect adherence to its guidelines over local laws – Australia’s Infant Nutrition Council​

Local laws governing infant nutrition cannot be subservient to WHO guidelines that were not approved by member states, says Australia’s Infant Nutrition Council (INC) as it questions the global bodies role over policy.

The INC takes issue with “an egregious point” that has been repeatedly raised to the Australian government, namely that WHO guidelines should take precedence.

“WHO stated that if there is a conflict between its guidance and national law, we should follow WHO guidance. Now, think about what that implies – private companies are being told by the WHO secretariat to ignore national laws or regulations when they conflict with WHO guidelines,”​ said CEO of the INC Jonathan Chew, who called this move by the WHO “irresponsible”.

Nutri-Level labelling: Indonesia plans new food labelling laws to mandate front-of-pack grading scheme​

The Indonesian government has proposed new regulations that would mandate the use of its upcoming Nutri-Level front-of-pack traffic light labelling system for food products considered high in sugar, salt and fat.

The Nutri-Level system is expected to look very similar to Singapore’s Nutri-Grade system​, where processed food products would be labelled as either level A (dark green), B (light green), C (yellow) or D (red) according to their nutrient content.

Whilst the system is likely to be implemented in phases, newly-released draft regulation documents from Indonesia’s National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) has revealed that the government is indeed taking this measure seriously as Nutri-Level has already been included in the draft.

“Nutri-Level will be used to give the processed food product a level represented by the alphabet A, B, C or D based on its content of sugar, salt (sodium), and total fat,”​ BPOM stated via formal documentation.

‘Positive progress’: Japan rejoices over Taiwan’s relaxing of restrictions on food exports affected by Fukushima nuclear disaster​

The Japanese government has warmly welcomed Taiwan’s long-awaited decision to relax import restrictions on food exports affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, dubbing this as ‘positive progress’ towards full trade recovery.

Japan has long been on a mission to convince its trade partners to remove import restrictions placed on food products coming from the affected regions of Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Chiba, and has seen significant success over the past 13 years with about 90% or 49 out of 55 of these markets having done so.

Taiwan has been one of its toughest nuts to crack in recent years, not least due to what Japan has long viewed as political influences such as the ‘nuclear food referendum’ that took place back in 2018​ and saw a failed bid to reinstate food imports from the affected areas.

Reconstitution rejections: India food safety authority bans ‘misleading’ fruit juice claims​

India’s food safety authority has announced regulations banning local beverage companies from labelling reconstituted fruit juices as ‘100% fruit juice’ to avoid public confusion.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a directive mandating all food business operators to remove any claim of ‘100% fruit juices’ from the labels and advertisements of reconstituted fruit juices.

Business owners are to comply immediately and stop using all relevant packaging and marketing material by 31 December 2024. However, products manufactured before this date are allowed to be sold until the end of their shelf life.

According to the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations of 2018, a ‘100%’ claim cannot be made due to its misleading nature.