SOUTH AFRICA – Food labelling a sea change proposed

On 21 April 2023, the Regulations Relating to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs (“the Regulations”) were published in the Government Gazette for public comment.  The Regulations propose a substantial departure from South Africa’s current labelling regulations set out in R146.  The Regulations introduce, for example, substantive changes to date marking and batch identification, as well as nutrient profiling, front of pack nutrition labelling and health claims.  In an attempt to combat non-communicable diseases in the South African population, the purpose of the proposed changes is aimed at improving the quality of the nutritional, compositional and other information provided on the labels applied to foodstuffs that are sold in South Africa.  As the period for public comment has now closed, it will be interesting to see what changes, if any, are incorporated into the Regulations.

R3337