‘Watered-down’ food labelling leaves sour taste for Kedgley

Former Green MP Sue Kedgley has torn into ‘‘watered down’’ country of origin labelling for food.

In a submission to Parliament, Kedgley, who fought for country of origin labelling (CoOL) when in Parliament, warned MPs on the Primary Production Committee that the public would not be impressed. ‘‘I would remind committee members that there is overwhelming consumer support for country of origin labelling,’’ she said.

After more than a decade of public pressure for CoOL, Kedgley said: ‘‘I cannot understand why the Primary Production committee is still procrastinating on this bill, and is proposing to drastically water its provisions down.’’

That watering down included restricting the list of single ingredient foods that would be covered, as well as including a loophole allowing any retailer not

to comply, if it would be unduly onerous to do so.

In its original form, the bill would have covered all single ingredient foods but the Primary Production Committee now says it will only cover single types of

fruit, vegetables, meat, fish or seafood which have been minimally processed. Foods like fresh tomatoes, frozen sliced beans and minced beef would require country of origin labels.

But, nuts, seeds and grains, tinned fruit and vegetables, mixed frozen vegetables, crumbed fish fillets, marinated meats, dried fruit, and cured meats would not.

While the draft version of the bill said the law would apply to fresh seafood, including prawns, shrimps, and seafood that had undergone any other processing, that clause was deleted from the revised document.

Kedgley said an absence of CoOL was a barrier to consumers being able to express their market preferences.

‘‘I cannot understand why the Primary Production committee is still procrastinating on this bill.’’

Former Green MP Sue Kedgley