Retailers need to be better educated about country-of-origin labelling education from state and local governments, Apple and Pear Australia Limited has told a parliamentary inquiry.
Apple and Pear Australia Limited industry services manager Annie Farrow said while Australia’s supermarkets, in particular Coles and Woolworths, were “very good” at adhering to labelling laws introduced in 2006, there were “hundreds and hundreds of greengrocers (where) those rules aren’t being enforced”, The Weekly Times reports.
Farrow was giving evidence at a House of Representatives agriculture standing committee inquiry in Melbourne looking into country-of-origin food labelling.
Farrow told the inquiry she visited three green grocers last Thursday and “two had absolutely no mention anywhere where their products came from” while the third had three categories labelled from an offering of almost 30.
“We’re not after policemen to go out there and reprimand or fine retailers for not labelling properly,” she said. “But there should be greater effort put on educating retailers.
“Consumers want to know where their products come from.”
Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said as the enforcement agency under the code, councils had “a legislated responsibility” to crack down on retailers flouting the rules.
Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce earlier this year said the inquiry was prompted by widespread misinterpretation of the terms “Made in Australia”, “Product of Australia” and “Made from Australian and imported ingredients”.
In May, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) said it is willing to work with stakeholders to help meet community expectations for country of origin labelling.
CEO Gary Dawson has said that there could be an opportunity to re-work current terms such as “grown in and product of”, to increase community understanding without developing a new network of regulation.
The Australian-Made campaign said they welcomed the country-of-origin inquiry when it was announced, and then gave evidence at the inquiry on 8 May.
Australian Made’s chief executive Ian Harrison, together with compliance and policy manager Lisa Crowe, made recommendations to the committee on how food labelling laws could be improved to support Australian growers and manufacturers.
Harrison and Crowe stated that an effective country-of-origin labelling system that is both understood and trusted by consumers, will help combat companies that are “attempting to mislead consumers regarding their products’ true country-of-origin.”
“Today we again recommended that the regulations under Australian Consumer Law fall into line with the more stringent rules for using the Australian Made, Australian Grown logo, thereby eradicating some of the loopholes that currently exist,” Harrison said.