NZL/612
WTO/SPS
NZ Nouvelle-Zélande
  • 67 - Technologie alimentaire
2020-02-16
2020-01-06

Food for retail sale in New Zealand in which caffine is present in a concentrations of:

(i)     5% or greater - if the food is solid or semi-solid food; and (ii)       1% or greater-if the food is a liquid food

Final Consideration Report - Urgent Proposal P1054 - Pure and highly concentrated caffeine products. Language(s): English. Number of pages: 48

To protect human safety and health, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has approved - as an interim emergency measure - an amendment to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code to prohibit the retail sale of foods in which total caffeine is present in a concentration of 5% or more (if the food is a solid or semi-solid food) or 1% or more (if the food is a liquid food). 

This decision followed a recent death in Australia caused by ingestion of pure or highly concentrated caffeine powder. The decision is based on a risk assessment that confirmed that pure and highly concentrated caffeine food products sold at retail directly to consumers pose an immediate and acute health and safety risk. The ingestion of small amounts of pure and highly concentrated caffeinated substances can result in death or severe health effects. 

This interim measure comes into force in December 2019. 

FSANZ will review this interim emergency measure and decide within 12 months whether to affirm, amend or repeal the measure, taking into account comments by WTO members received as a result of this notification. New Zealand is notifying this interim measure under both TBT and SPS Agreements as caffeine cannot be considered to be an additive for the purposes of the SPS Agreement in relation to all food stuffs - such as pure caffeine products in which it is the primary ingredient. The latter would be covered the TBT Agreement (and not the SPS Agreement).