Plant-based alternative product labelling

The Australian Government committed $1.5 million in the 2024-25 Budget (over two years from 2023-24) to improve existing arrangements for the labelling of plant-based and alternative protein products.

This work responds to long-standing concerns from the meat and dairy industry that plant-based labelling could be confusing to consumers. It follows the government’s 2021 Plant-based Alternatives Labelling and Marketing Working Group and the 2022 Senate Inquiry into ‘Definitions of meat and other animal products.’

In 2024, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry established a working group to consider improvements to existing labelling arrangements. The working group consists of stakeholders representing red meat, chicken, seafood, dairy and plant-based industries.

The department also commissioned Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to undertake consumer and market research on consumer understanding of plant-based alternative labelling. The research was undertaken in three parts:

• a rapid review of the literature to identify evidence gaps
• a market survey of labels on plant-based protein and dairy alternatives currently for sale in Australia
• a consumer survey using a randomised controlled trial to test the effect of different labelling elements on consumer understanding.

The research focussed on front-of-pack labelling elements such as meat and dairy terminology, animal imagery, and the use of qualifiers (like ‘soy’ or ‘plant-based’).

Download the research report

Further information about consumers understanding of plant-based product labelling is available in the below documents.

The short summary provides an overview of all parts of the research. To explore each component of the research in full detail, refer to the individual research reports.