KEY POINTS:
The National Party is concerned at suggestions by a British newspaper that consumers buy French wine instead of a New Zealand vintage to reduce their carbon footprint.
National's horticulture spokesman, Craig Foss, said the emergence of soft trade barriers was a "very serious threat" to exports.
The so-called food miles argument advocates buying local produce to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport.
New Zealand producers argue that more environmentally friendly production here outweighs the impact of shipping the produce.
Mr Foss said the online edition of the Times had been running a monthly "Low Carbon Diet Masterplan" series.
"This instructs consumers to 'buy a bottle of French Wine instead of a New Zealand vintage'," Mr Foss said.
"The food miles campaign shows that New Zealand must make sure it had its own environmental act together. We must have a credible climate change policy. Only then will we be able to convince overseas consumers that buying New Zealand produce is on the whole good for them and the environment."
- NZPA
