A LONG-STANDING proposal to require all health claims on packaged food to be substantiated before they go on the market may have been derailed by the billion-dollar grocery industry, which is proposing that it be allowed to sell first, prove later.

In a last-minute push, government and industry officials have floated the option of industry self-regulation of general health claims, a proposal consumer and health sources said was like the ''fox guarding the henhouse''.

''Industry lobby groups are fiercely resisting the proposal to subject their plans to slap health claims on chocolate and sugar to scrutiny by food regulators,'' said Matt Levey, the head of campaigns with the consumer advocacy group Choice.

''But we know there are ministers willing to protect consumers from overzealous health marketing and we are hopeful of a sensible outcome after decades of consultation on this issue.''

Until last week there appeared to be agreement that general health claims like those on Golden Circle's new probiotic juice, which says it supports ''your natural immune defences'', would have to be checked by Food Standards Australia New Zealand before the foods could be sold.