. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/AUS/30 
10 March 2004  
 
(04-1065) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English 
  
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   AUSTRALIA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:    
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) 
PO Box 7186 
Canberra BC  ACT  2610 
AUSTRALIA Fax:  (+61) 2 62712278    Email:   info@foodstandards.gov.au
 
 Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:         
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:         
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition, where applicable):   All foods that contain 
maltodextrins, which are resi stant to human digestion. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Assessment for 
Application A491 – Resistant Ma ltodextrins as Dietary Fibre (96 pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:   FSANZ has received an App lication to amend the Table to 
subclause 18(1) of Standard 1.2.8 – Nu trition Information Requirements of the Australia 
New Zealand  Food Standards Code  (the Code) to include the method AOAC 2001.03 – 
"Total Dietary Fibre in Foods Containing Resistant Maltodextrin" for the measurement of 
dietary fibre.  If this amendment is approved,  it will enable resistant maltodextrins (RMDs) 
to be included in the calculation of total dietary fibre content for nutrition labelling purposes.   
Given the nature of RMDs and their potential impact on the gastrointestinal tract, this 
Application has also been used as an opportunity to review the safety and dietary impacts of 
RMDs based on available data. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable: 
Current methods of analysis for dietary fibre prescribed in the Table to subclause 18(1) of 
Standard 1.2.8 do not accurately measure the dietary fibre content of foods containing 
RMDs.  These methods can include some RMDs within their measurements of dietary fibre, however they are not designed specifically fo r this purpose and thus will only measure up 
to 50% of the RMDs that may be present in a food.   G/TBT/N/AUS/30 
Page 2  
 
It is proposed that AOAC 2001.03 be included the Table to subclause 18(1) of Standard 
1.2.8, as this method is reported to measure close to 100% of the RMDs present in a food. 
The objectives of Application A491 are: 
• To enable consumers to make informed choices about the dietary fibre content of 
foods.  To achieve this, FSANZ will review  the list of approved methods for dietary 
fibre analyses to reflect available analyt ical techniques, and to reflect current 
scientific understanding on the status of RM Ds as forms of dietary fibre;  and 
• the protection of public health and saf ety through an assessment of the safety, 
nutritional and technical issues associated with RMDs. 
8. Relevant documents:   Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code  (English) 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   Notification to Government anticipated in October 2004  with 
adoption (gazettal) to follow, pending Government consideration. 
 
Proposed date of entry into force:  Date of gazettal pending Government consideration 
10. Final date for comments:   9 May 2004 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:   
 
Documents are av ailable from the Food Standards Au stralia New Zeal and website:  
 www.foodstandards.gov.au/standardsdevelopment
.