Petition Title: Permit Moringa as Food in Australia and New Zealand: A Practical Step Toward Better Nutrition and Food Access

The Issue:  In many remote, regional, and low-income communities across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, fresh nutritious food is too often expensive, limited, or unreliable. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in remote Australia, this is not an abstract policy problem. It affects children, elders, families, household budgets, community health, and the everyday dignity of being able to access good food.

No single plant will solve food insecurity. Moringa is not a miracle cure, and it should not be promoted as one. But Moringa oleifera is a widely eaten, drought-hardy, nutrient-dense food plant used in many parts of the world. Its leaves, immature green pods, and seed oil are consumed as ordinary foods in a number of countries, and Moringa has been recognised by international food and nutrition agencies for its value in supporting nutrition, food diversity, and community food resilience. 

At present, however, Moringa oleifera is not permitted for retail sale as food or as a food ingredient in Australia following Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s rejection of a previous novel-food application. We respect the role of FSANZ in protecting public health. Food safety matters, and any approval should be evidence-based. But the current position should not become a permanent dead end. We are asking FSANZ, Australian and New Zealand food ministers, and relevant food-regulation authorities to establish a clear, transparent, evidence-based pathway for permitting Moringa oleifera as food.

This petition does not seek approval for medicinal claims, concentrated extracts, roots, bark, therapeutic products, or unregulated health supplements. We are asking only for ordinary food use: Moringa leaves, immature green pods, and seed oil.

Moringa deserves fair assessment not because it is a miracle plant, but because it has practical, well-documented advantages as a food crop. It is nutritionally valuable, relatively drought-hardy, suitable for warm climates, and potentially useful for home gardens, small growers, community food projects, and culturally diverse households already familiar with Moringa as food. This is especially relevant in places where conventional fresh produce is costly, difficult to transport, or seasonally unreliable. Allowing Moringa under sensible food-use conditions could support dietary diversity, local cultivation, community resilience, and more equitable access to nutritious plant foods.

We are not claiming that Moringa is a traditional Indigenous food of Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand. That distinction is important. The point is simpler: many foods now considered ordinary in Australia and New Zealand came from elsewhere. A food plant should not be excluded simply because its history of use is international rather than local. The proper question should be: can Moringa’s ordinary food uses be safely specified, labelled, grown, imported, sold, and consumed? We believe the answer deserves serious reconsideration.

A sensible regulatory pathway could limit approval to leaves, immature green pods, and seed oil; exclude roots, bark, and concentrated extracts; set clear food-safety standards; require appropriate labelling; and provide practical guidance for growers, importers, retailers, and consumers. That would be a proportionate response. It would protect public health while allowing access to a nutritious food plant already eaten by communities around the world. Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand should be expanding safe, diverse, resilient food options — not unintentionally blocking them through regulatory uncertainty.

We therefore call on FSANZ and the relevant Australian and New Zealand authorities to reassess Moringa oleifera and create a clear pathway for its leaves, immature green pods, and seed oil to be lawfully sold and consumed as food. Good food should not be harder to access because a useful plant sits in regulatory limbo. Moringa is not a cure-all, but it is a practical, nutritious food plant with global use and practical potential.

Please sign to support a fair reassessment and a clear pathway for Moringa leaves, immature green pods, and seed oil to be permitted as food in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.