You’ll now know where your sizzling snapper or that plump peach you’ve just taken a bite out of comes from. This as a food-labelling bill passes into law in New Zealand.
Kiwis will finally be able to identify where their fruit and vege come from after the Consumers’ Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Act passed its third reading in parliament yesterday.
A recent survey by Consumer NZ shows that 65 per cent of shoppers look for labelling information when buying fresh fruit but that less than a third (32 per cent) always found it. Even fewer (29 per cent) always found labelling information when buying fresh vegetables.
Consumer NZ head of research Jessica Wilson says that the law change was a much-needed first step towards better country-of-origin labelling.
“Consumers increasingly want to know where their food comes from so they can make informed choices about what they buy. Our research has found strong support for mandatory labelling with seven out of 10 consumers backing it,” she says.
The law change will mean fresh or frozen fruits, vegetables, meats, fish and seafood will be required to display their country of origin. Fines of up to $30,000 will apply for failure to comply with the rules.
Labelling requirements will be set in a consumer information standard. This standard will apply to fresh produce six months after it’s issued and to frozen produce 18 months after.
Wilson says that the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kris Faafoi, also had the power to extend the standard to require labelling of other foods.
“We’ll be pushing for that to happen. At a minimum, all single-ingredient foods should be required to display a country-of-origin label,” she said.
Wilson also commented that mandatory labelling was required because relying on retailers to voluntarily label provides products had failed to give consumers the information they needed.
