Health Benefits of Vegetables: What can we say?

1. Health Benefits of Vegetables:What can we say?

2. We all know vegetables are good for us • But some consumers value more information about • Which nutrients are in this vegetable? • What are the health benefits of this vegetable? • How much do I need to eat? • How to buy/store/cook vegetables to maximise the benefits. • As suppliers, we need to understand how our decisions impact on nutrient content in terms of • Variety • Agronomy/production • Processing • Shelf-life • And how/when to apply these claims MacTavish West Pty. Ltd. in partnership with

3. Australia has a new Regulatory Framework: • Jan 2013: a new Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Health Claims Standard was issued • The standard provides a framework for the development of foods for health that has scientific rigour and flexibility • Approved: nutrient content claims (e.g. good source of calcium) • Approved: health claims based on two kinds of food-health relationships: • General-level food-health claims • (e.g. calcium and healthy/normal bones) • Over 200 health claims; only some are relevant to vegetables and to the whole population. • High-level food-health claims • (e.g. calcium and reduction of the risk of osteoporosis). MacTavish West Pty. Ltd. in partnership with

4. Opportunities: • Opportunity – vegetable products labelled with nutrition & health information; consumers educated about health benefits more specifically. • Risk – complexity of the regulatory framework, legality of on-pack claims, and degree of consumer understanding, variability of raw material. For example, this is what a general level health claim looks like for Vitamin C: A serve of this product is a Source of Vitamin C which is necessary for normal neurological function • To make a nutrient or health claim, a product must: • Pass the nutrient profiling scoring criterion (NPSC); • Contain at least 10% of the RDI/serve of a specific nutrient (e.g. Vitamin C); for some components a specific level has been set e.g. fibre = 2g/serve, potassium = 200mg/serve. • Specific text may be required on the pack (NIP, ingredient list, allergens). These would not be required on loose vegetables. MacTavish West Pty. Ltd. in partnership with

5. Opportunities: One High-level Health Claim is applicable to all vegetables ‘A high intake of fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of coronary heart disease’. MacTavish West Pty. Ltd. in partnership with

6. Current vegetable industry project, HAL funded HAL project VG12043: Conveying the Health Benefits of Australian Vegetables. Plant & Food Research (Aus) and MacTavish West P/L • Has developed a Searchable Database of vegetable-specific nutrient and health claim and health benefit information. • Workshops will be held between Aug-Oct 2013 to inform and advise industry on issues including management of produce, a quality assurance process (reducing the risk by ensuring product has the target nutrient levels), use of on-pack and other communications and guidelines on the legality of their use. • Articles and a web portal are being developed, potentially with downloadable resources for communicating to educators and health professionals about • Vegetables in terms of claimable nutrients and health benefit areas. • Each nutrient (core nutrients and classes of non-RDI nutrients i.e. the phytochemicals). • Each health benefit area. • Will de-risk the use of health claims for vegetable products and enable producers to communicate the nutritional and health benefits of vegetable products to their consumers. MacTavish West Pty. Ltd. in partnership with

7. Brain Vision Energy & Metabolism Immunity Digestion Hydration Skin Bones & Joints Heart & Circulation Converting Claims into Benefits • Many vegetables will deliver several benefits • Symbols for each benefit can be developed • This info can be used on-pack as a call-out MacTavish West Pty. Ltd. in partnership with

8. Stakeholder Survey, May 2013 • >100 Stakeholders including: • Industry (growers) • Industry associations • Grower associations • Wholesalers/markets • Retailers • Educators – primary and tertiary • Health – public, community • Food writers and chefs • Others MacTavish West Pty. Ltd. in partnership with

9. Importance of health benefits information on-pack MacTavish West Pty. Ltd. in partnership with

10. Other information preferences MacTavish West Pty. Ltd. in partnership with

11. Take-home messages • There are new rules about nutrient and health claims • These are complex, even for vegetables • HAL has funded a project to help guide you through it & provide resources for you to use • We recommend focussing on health benefits for consumers • One High-level Health Claim is applicable to all vegetables ‘A high intake of fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of coronary heart disease’. MacTavish West Pty. Ltd. in partnership with

12. The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited Watch this space for information on the workshops Jocelyn.eason@plantandfood.co.nz Hazel@mactavishwest.com.au This project has been funded by HAL using the vegetable levy and matched funds from the Australian Government