Discussion Paper Summary

Quantity Marking on Packaged Food 

June 2002

HTML version- full text

This paper sets out the Ministry’s proposals to provide for quantity marking for packaged foods to be included within the Weights and Measures Regulations 1999.

Currently, the requirement to quantity mark packaged food is contained within the Food Regulations 1984. It is proposed that the changes to the Weights and Measures Regulations will come into force in December 2002 when the Joint Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code also comes into force. When this happens the New Zealand Food Regulations will, in the main, be revoked. Regulations relating to quantity marking food will be amongst those that are revoked.

The proposed amendment to the Weights and Measures Regulations 1999 will not require that all food must be sold by reference to quantity. It will require that packaged foods be marked with their quantity. Essentially there will be no change to current requirements in this regard, rather a change to where the requirement is sited in legislation.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with information about the current issues surrounding the quantity marking of packaged foods, and to set out an option on how packaged food marking would be best dealt with in the Weights and Measures Regulations 1999.

Before these regulations can be introduced the Ministry wishes to obtain comments from interested parties. These will be collated and where relevant included in the report to the Minister of Consumer Affairs on the final recommendation for gazetting the proposed regulations.

Please send any comment you may have by Monday 5 August 2002 to:

Terry Collins
Acting Senior Advisor, Trade Measurement
Ministry of Consumer Affairs
PO Box 1473
Wellington
Fax: 04 473 9400
Email: terry.collins@mca.govt.nz

Discussion paper - full text

PDF version (173 KB)

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the PDF version, which you can download here.