KEY POINTS:
The Green Party faces stiff opposition to have compulsory country-of-origin labelling on food.
Greens safe food spokeswoman Sue Kedgley yesterday started a nationwide campaign to have compulsory labelling on meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables and other "single component" foods.
Previous Green Party campaigns to get the labelling written into law have failed, but Ms Kedgley says the issue is still of "overwhelming public concern".
"There are a multitude of reasons New Zealanders want to know where their food comes from," she said yesterday.
"Some people want to support local producers, others like to avoid food from countries with poor safety records."
The Government and farmers have opposed the proposal, saying labelling should not be imposed on food producers.
Federated Farmers food safety spokesman Frank Brenmuhl said the move would add hugely to costs - "and everybody is worrying about the cost of food at the moment".
Mr Brenmuhl said the Greens were very careful about what they did not tell people - "such as how much it will cost to implement".
There was also a problem getting accuracy in the labelling when foods could include ingredients from many different sources.
Food Safety Minister Annette King has said that country of origin labelling is a matter for business, not the Government.
Ms King was not available for comment yesterday.
But Food Safety Authority policy director Carole Inkster agreed the labelling should be a commercial decision.
Much packaged food already had voluntary origin labels, she said.
The Consumers Institute said it encouraged food producers to provide all possible information, but it did not see mandatory labelling as the best option or providing any added safety.
Ms Kedgley plans to travel around New Zealand gathering signatures for a petition on labelling.
Food labelling
* Nearly 1.5 million tonnes of food are imported annually.
* Last year this included 149,462 tonnes of fruit, 32,207 tonnes of meat, and 39,996 tonnes of vegetables.
* The Herald bought five food products at random yesterday to check country of origin labelling.
* Packaging on all five stated clearly where the product was made - two in Australia, one in New Zealand from local and imported ingredients, one in California and one in Italy.
