New food origin labels coming

He justified the extra $37 million a year cost to Australian businesses because it would provide consumers with more information.

SYDNEY, July 21 Australia will introduce mandatory country-of-origin food labelling from 2016, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday, a move given impetus by a hepatitis outbreak earlier in the year blamed on contaminated berries from China.

“In the past, it was always a case of frustration where you would pick up a can and it would say something like “made in Australia”.

Country of origin for food has gained popularity in the artisan food movement, which encourages consumers to consider the “food miles” involved in getting food from farm to table and the provenance of products. However, AusVeg is pleased the “made from local and imported ingredients” tag, which confuses buyers, will be binned.

The changes call for a clarification of the definition of “Made in Australia” so that the practice of importing ingredients and slicing them locally is no longer covered.

The Australian government said: “The new labels will be easy for shoppers to identify”. The overwhelming sentiment of that statement was that obviously this product is Australian.

The Federal Government has announced plans to use a simple gold bar as the new national standard for showing whether food has been grown, made, or packaged in Australia.

‘Under the new scheme, if a product is imported into Australia and then re-packed, the label will identify where the item came from, ‘ Mr Abbott said.

Initially, take-up of the country of origin food labels will be voluntary.

But the new rules come at a cost. AusVeg – the peak body for vegetable growers – is concerned the labels “fall well short” of a genuine food labelling system and risk “letting down the people of Australia”.

“I want to make absolutely certain that the Australian consumer gets a form of labelling that is transparent, that is honest, that is diagrammatic, that reflects the proportionality of their food and what comes from our nation so that they can make a judgment with their money as to what they buy”.

The Commonwealth Government will continue to work with the States and Territories, whose agreement is required to roll out the new labels.