Country-of-origin food label wrangle

The Government is yet to decide whether it will sign up to mandatory country-of-origin labelling for food sold in New Zealand.

Food Safety Minister Annette King is to meet her Australian counterparts in Sydney today for a meeting of the Food Regulation Ministerial Council to discuss the issue.

Australia intends to support the standard, proposed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand, but a spokesman for Mrs King said she would not be "taking a position" to the meeting because of the pending Cabinet decision.

The New Zealand Government has previously opposed mandatory labelling because of concerns about its trade restrictiveness and its irrelevance to food safety requirements.

Green Party MP Sue Kedgley yesterday urged the Government to drop its opposition to mandatory food labelling and support the proposal before the council.

A document issued by FSANZ recommended that the origin of unpackaged foods - such as fruit, vegetables, seafood, pork and nuts - be clearly visible to the consumer. It might involve the use of a sticker on the food or a sign with print at least 9mm high.

Ms Kedgley said many consumers wanted to buy New Zealand-grown produce to support local growers and avoid the environmental damage caused by transporting food around the globe.

"Mandatory country-of-origin labelling is crucial to a successful buy Kiwi-made campaign because without it consumers won't be able to figure out whether they are buying local or imported produce," she said.

"We need to know whether the Government will do the right thing tomorrow and enable consumers to know where their food comes from and, by association, what's in it."

Australian MP Christopher Pyne said the Australian Government intended to support the standard.

"The Australian Government supports the standard as a step forward and will not be seeking a review."

He said he would propose to FSANZ that it consider the feasibility of extending country-of-origin labelling to products with two or less "whole food" ingredients, "including a regulatory impact statement, cost benefit analysis and consultation with stakeholders, with a report to the Ministerial Council by the end of March 2006".