Dear Food Forum Ministers,

For families, the most important thing in life is the health and wellbeing of our children.  

That’s why it matters to all of us that our families have access to clear information about the health and safety of the products they buy – especially products that may harm our children. 

Alcohol can cause brain damage in unborn babies when consumed during pregnancy – a condition known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Alcohol can also lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, low birth weight and developmental problems. 

Yet these products have never before been legally required to carry a health warning.  

Thankfully, that’s about to change. We are all in agreement that we need a mandatory label. Now our independent food authority has developed a clear and visible label that, with your support, will soon appear on all alcohol products sold in Australia and New Zealand.  

This will replace the ineffective and confusing label applied inconsistently by some alcohol producers to date. 

You will soon be meeting to decide whether to support this carefully designed label. As you do so, we ask that you put the health and wellbeing of Australian children first by supporting the evidence-based design in full.  

Watering down the label through changes to its colour, size or wording, would be risking the health and wellbeing of thousands of Australians for years to come. 

As a community, we want Aussie kids to have the best start in life. Help our community give them that by supporting this new label without further delay.  

Yours,