By Steve Best
Last month’s trans-Tasman spat about the origins of New Zealand produce sold to Australia once again highlights the need to revisit country-of-origin labelling.
AUSVEG, the Australian interest group representing vegetable and potato growers, issued claims that New Zealand frozen vegetables exported to the Australian market are of a poor standard, originate in China, and are then sent off with labelling stating ‘made in New Zealand’.
Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Peter Silcock says those assertions are an indication of misleading information geared to protect Australian growers’ interests and exemplify the need for New Zealand to meet international standards for country-of-origin-labelling on our products.
“This is blatant protectionist scare-mongering. It is just another example of Australian sour grapes. Last week it was beetroot, this week it is frozen vegetables. Australian growers need to stop complaining about competition and start getting better at what they do,” Mr Silcock says.
While Mr Silcock says that the vast majority of New Zealand frozen vegetables are grown and processed in New Zealand, he admits that under current labelling regimes it is not illegal for produce grown in China to be processed here or in Australia and then sold as ‘made in New Zealand from local and imported ingredients’ or ‘made in Australia from local and imported ingredients’.
“We could walk through the aisles of any Australian supermarket and find dozens of examples of products which have this labelling, which tells you nothing about the origin of the product,” Mr Silcock says.
“That’s the way the law is. If consumers don’t like it, they need to get their governments to change it.
HortNZ has advocated for tougher country of origin labelling laws for a long time.”
Cost has often been cited as a reason for not introducing mandatory country-of-origin- labelling but Mr Silcock says that consumers would be happy to cover that cost to ensure belief in the origin of produce they purchased.
“We believe it is really important information, and information that consumers are willing to pay what is probably just a cent or two more for. It’s not a significant cost when you come down to the cost of the product.”
It is also our reputation as an exporter that warrants such protection, guaranteeing consumer confidence in New Zealand products wherever they are sold.
When our food exports are so vital to our economic wellbeing it is important that we do all that we can to guarantee the integrity of our products to satisfy consumer demands and expectations.
