Food manufacturers would be banned from making the standalone claim of products being 'Made in Australia' under the Australian Greens' proposed country-of-origin labelling bill.
The Accurate Country of Origin Labelling for Food Bill 2012 would amend the Food Standards Code and the Competition and Consumer Act to create a food-specific country of origin labelling framework.
Most Australians expect that terms like ‘Made in Australia’ on food products mean that the food is from Australian growers, according to the Australian Greens. Under current laws ‘Made in Australia’ and ‘Australian Made’ can legally be used where the food in question has been transformed, and 50 per cent or more of the transformation costs were incurred here.
“In other words, the terms ‘Made in Australia’ and ‘Australian Made’ aren’t about the origin of the food content, they are largely about the process it underwent to get produced and packaged,” the Greens said.
Consumer advocacy group Choice gave the example of a package of glacé cherries that are labelled on the front of the packaging as being “Australian Made and Owned” on the front. On the back, it says “Made in Australia from imported and local products.”
The cherries are imported, but are glacéd in Australia. Therefore the claims are legal as the company is Australian owned; and by law the glacé process meets the ‘transformation’ definition 50 per cent or more of the costs of that process were incurred in Australia.
“But the bottom line for the shopper is they probably think they are buying cherries grown in Australia, and they aren’t,” says the Greens. “To make things more confusing, companies can also use qualified claims regarding country of origin that specifically refer to ingredients.”
These qualified claims include: 'Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients', which means the product was processed in Australia and there is more locally sourced ingredients than imported ones; or 'Made in Australia from imported and local ingredients', which usually means the product was processed in Australia but the majority of the ingredients are imported.
“Little wonder then that when Choice surveyed its members, only half actually understood what the current terms ‘Australian Made’ and ‘Made in Australia’ mean, and 90 per cent said that country of origin labelling needs to be clearer," said the Greens.
Choice has welcomed the Greens' efforts to address the confusion with country-of-origin labelling; however, it is concerned that removing 'Made in Australia' labelling claims may leave many consumers without information they find important.
“Our May 2011 country-of-origin survey showed the majority of respondents found it important to be able to identify foods manufactured in Australia,” said Choice.
“The 'Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients' claim is also of concern. Although this claim was reasonably well understood by respondents to our May 2011 survey, it fared poorly in our Australia Day quiz this year.”
The Accurate Country of Origin Labelling for Food Bill 2012 will specify the following standards for country-of-origin food labelling:
- Foods labelled as ‘Made of Australian ingredients’ must be at least 90 per cent by weight (excluding water) of all ingredients or components of Australian origin.
- Foods labelled as ‘Grown in Australia’ must be wholly grown in Australia.
- Standalone claims about food being 'Made in Australia' would be banned.
- The ‘Product of Australia’ claim would be banned.
- Existing mandatory labelling requirements for fresh meat and vegetables would be retained.
- Clear stipulations for the use of logos associated with premium claims on the front of packages and plain English terms for on the back of food packaging, including minimum font sizes, would be set.
- Labels would be based on the weight of ingredients and components, as recommended in the Blewett Report.
