Front-of-pack warnings on foodstuffs coming

JOHANNESBURG - You may soon know exactly which foods are high in salt, sugar and fat and have artificial sweeteners.

The Health Department has gazetted new draft regulations for labelling and advertising on foodstuffs.

The public has until 21 July to comment.

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Nzama Mbalati from the Healthy Living Alliance is welcoming the proposed changes.

"The food environment that we are in is actually dominated by highly-processed food.

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"The food that is actually unhealthy, and the problematic ingredients in the main is salt, transfat and sugar," he said.

"The regulation is trying to easily depict that for consumers when they purchase food at a first glance, through what we call the front-of-pack warning labels.

"So all packaged food that will have a higher threshold as per milligrams in the foodstuff will actually be marked as high in sugar, high in fat, making it easier for consumers to understand that this is actually an unhealthy product that actually can endanger my health."