CHOICE has welcomed the Australian Greens’ initiative to improve country-of-origin labelling requirements for food with the introduction to federal Parliament of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Australian Food Labelling) Bill 2012.
The Bill seeks to simplify and strengthen requirements around country-of-origin labelling for food, which many consumers currently find confusing.
“We hope the Greens’ initiative in this area will spark a national debate and much-needed reforms in this area”, says CHOICE spokesperson Ingrid Just.
However, while CHOICE says moves towards simplification are well overdue, the Greens’ proposal to remove the ‘Made in Australia’ claims would remove information that many consumers want.
“CHOICE surveys have shown that country of origin labelling is important to 90% of respondents, with over 80% saying they support keeping jobs and profits in Australia,” says CHOICE spokesperson Ingrid Just.
“For this reason, we don’t agree with the Greens’ proposal to remove the ‘Made in Australia’ claim, as this assumes that consumers only want to know where food is grown.”
The Greens’ Bill would also remove the ‘Product of Australia’ claim, the requirements of which are similar to the more readily understood ‘Grown in Australia’ claim that is used for many foods.
“CHOICE surveys have shown that over 90% of respondents want clearer country of origin labelling and we have long called on governments to act, so overall, this move towards simpler labelling is positive” says Ms Just.