Aussie food tag to be reviewed

The use of the 'Made in Australia' tag on food products will be reviewed at an upcoming meeting of Australian consumer affairs ministers. The South Australian and Queensland governments are pushing for changes to labelling laws in order to reduce confusion about the origin of foodstuffs. South Australian Consumer Minister John Rau says the the 'Made in Australia' tag often appears on products made from mostly overseas ingredients. He says current laws also allow food manufacturers to call a product 'Australian' even if some of the production occurred outside Australia. "There are instances where products are labelled as if the product was of Australian origin and it turns out that basically the only thing that's happened in Australia is the packing," he said.

"The critical point is that consumers have accurate information so that if a product appears to be an Australian-produced product, or an Australian grown product, it is what it appears to be." "They should not be misled or placed in a position where they think they're buying Australian when in fact the product they're buying is an imported product." He says changes would also benefit local farmers and fruit and vegetable growers. "Most Australian consumers are pretty patriotic about wanting to but Australian and support local growers and local industry, so I think it's a critical issue and it enables the consumer to make an informed choice," he said.

Source: abc.net.au