Greens blaze away on three fronts in launching their food revolution

By KEVIN TAYLOR political reporter

A campaign calling on the Government to introduce country-of-origin and GM food labelling and to stop the routine feeding of antibiotics to factory-farmed animals has been started by the Green Party.

Declaring there was "nothing more political than food", Green MP Sue Kedgley launched the "Food Revolution" campaign at the party's annual conference in Wellington yesterday.

She used Chinese garlic as an example of why country-of-origin labelling was needed. Cheap Chinese garlic had squeezed out New Zealand growers, she said, but the imported plant was fumigated with "highly toxic" and ozone-depleting methyl bromide.

"In most supermarkets around New Zealand why is there no label to tell where garlic comes from?" Ms Kedgley asked.

She also underlined the waste of energy in transporting garlic 10,500km from China.

Ms Kedgley will also use the campaign to raise awareness about the lack of New Zealand input in the setting of food standards.

She said Health Minister Annette King was the only New Zealander on the 22-strong ministerial food council of Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

New Zealand had the same status as Tasmania, she said, and only one vote out of 10. Also, the organisation was not covered by the Official Information Act and so voting remained secret, she said.

The Green Party has started a nationwide petition calling for the Government to stop the feeding of antibiotics to animals that are significant to human medicine.

Ms Kedgley said the feeding of antibiotics to factory-farmed animals represented a serious threat to medical advances.

"To get the greatest benefit from antibiotics they must be used sparingly - but many farmers are compromising this by using antibiotics indiscriminately."

Pharmac's campaign to cut human use of antibiotics was being undermined by the fact that more than 100 tonnes of antibiotics were administered to animals in 2002.

The Food Revolution website includes a facility for email postcards to be sent to Prime Minister Helen Clark, Ms King and Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

Ms Kedgley denied this meant the Greens were increasing the amount of spam, saying it was a democratic issue.

Food for thought

Green Party concerns:

* Lack of mandatory country-of-origin and GM food labelling.

* Continued feeding of antibiotics to factory-farmed animals such as chickens.

* Decisions about what food is available and how it is labelled is made by an Australian-dominated organisation, Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

Food Revolution