Food

The Albanese Government will provide $1.6 million to deliver its election commitment to introduce Country of Origin Labelling in the seafood industry.  The Government will work closely with the seafood and hospitality sectors to improve seafood labelling and help consumers make informed decisions about the food they buy.  Assistant Minister for Trade and Manufacturing Tim…

Read More Clearer seafood labelling a big win for consumers

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Recently, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published an interview with Ian Jarratt from the Queensland Consumers Association on the relevance of retail food price transparency to the FAO’s Right to Food Program. In the interview Ian says that food price transparency is extremely relevant to consumers’ right to food because it ensures that…

Read More Price transparency and consumers’ right to food

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Ian Jarratt, CFA Executive member and Queensland Consumers Association (QCA) member, was recently interviewed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations about the importance of food transparency, unit pricing, and the role that consumer associations need to play in the transformation of agri-food systems. In this interview, he talks about his experiences from…

Read More Food and Agruculture Organization interview CFA Executive Ian Jarratt

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FSANZ is a statutory authority operating under the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991. FSANZ develops standards that regulate the use of ingredients, processing aids, colourings, additives, vitamins and minerals. The Food Standards Code also covers the composition of some foods, such as dairy, meat and beverages as well as foods developed by new…

Read More CFA Seeks a Consumer Representative for the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Consumer and Public Health Dialogue (CPHD)

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The Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA) has complained to the ACCC about the inadequate display of grocery unit pricing in some supermarkets operated by Woolworths and by Harris Farm Markets. CFA’s CEO Gerard Brody says “it is essential that the unit prices of grocery products are displayed so that they are easy for all consumers…

Read More Inadequate unit pricing risks higher grocery prices, says complaint to ACCC

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The latest edition of the Queensland Consumers Association’s (QCA) newsletter Unit Pricing Global Update reports that: India will require display of the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) per standardised unit of measure (i.e. the unit price) on pre-packaged commodities sold by retailers after 31 March 2022. Currently only the MRP has to be displayed. In New…

Read More Mandatory grocery unit pricing coming to India and New Zealand

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CFA has made a submission to the consultation the on how the Australian Government can regulate organic products domestically. The consultation document examines the policy problem under consideration, as well as potential regulatory and non-regulatory options for reform. In its submission CFA states: Australian consumers should be protected from misleading and misrepresentation in relation to produce and…

Read More CFA publishes submission to Domestic Organics Regulatory Impact Statement

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The Federal Government has released its evaluation of Country of Origin Labelling for Food reforms. The evaluation began 2 years after the reforms came into full effect in 2018 and took 12 months. The evaluation: found that the Country of Origin Labelling for Food reforms were well implemented, effective and met its objectives, and recommended…

Read More Country of Origin Labelling for Food evaluation released

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Prepared by CFA Executive Member Ian Jarratt, of Queensland Consumers Association. He can be reached at ijarratt@australiamail.com. Recently, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) published two reports, aimed to support, and showcase the work of Consumer Organizations around the globe on The Right to Adequate Food. The reports are: Consumer Organizations and the Right to…

Read More FAO publishes reports on consumer organizations and the Right to Adequate Food

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The National Measurement Institute’s (NMI) report on retailer compliance in 2020-21 reveals that 88% of fruit and vegetable retailers, 42% of meat, fish and poultry retailers, and 25% of supermarkets were not complying with their legal requirements when audited during a concentrated period during the year. Much of this post is taken from a media release by Queensland…

Read More Report finds many food retailers not complying with weights and measures laws

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The nation’s peak body for consumer organisations, the Consumers Federation of Australia (CFA) says shoppers will miss out on big savings possible when buying groceries, and other packaged products, as a result of federal government not improving the current Unit Pricing Code. The Code requires only large supermarkets and some online grocery retailers to provide…

Read More Federal government misses opportunity to help shoppers save at the checkout

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CFA has made a submission to the federal government on its draft new Grocery Unit Pricing Industry Code of Conduct. The submission disagrees strongly with the conclusions of the review of the current Code and with the proposed new Code’s provisions (which are identical to those of the current Code). It also argues that implementation…

Read More CFA and member organisations call for changes to proposed new federal Unit Pricing Code