The Hon Christopher Pyne MP

Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister for Health and Ageing

8 December 2005

 

New Country Of Origin Food Labelling Standard Gazetted (Australia Only)

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) today gazetted the new Country of Origin Food Labelling Standard for Australia. The standard will come into full force for unpackaged fruit, vegetables, nuts and seafood products in six months’ time, for unpackaged pork products in 12 months and for packaged goods in two years’ time.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing, Christopher Pyne, said that he welcomed the new standard.

“Australian consumers have indicated that they wish to know the country of origin of their products. The new standard means that they will be able to go into a supermarket, or their local shop, and be able to clearly see which country any packaged food or unpackaged fruit, vegetable, nut, seafood and fresh pork, ham and bacon product comes from,” Mr Pyne said.

The new standard includes:

• broadening the scope to include unpackaged fresh pork, ham and bacon products and processed unpackaged seafood, vegetables, nuts and fruit;
• a requirement that unpackaged products included in the standard have a specific country-of-origin label – not just a statement that the product is imported;
• distinct statement of origin information on packaged products;
• a requirement for country of origin declarations for packaged and unpackaged foods to be consistent with trade practices legislation and trade practices law; and
• strengthened requirements for legibility and print size on labels and signs used to declare the country of origin for unpackaged foods.

“Enforcement of all food standards, including Country of Origin Labelling is a state and territory responsibility.   I am pleased to note that the Implementation Sub-Committee is developing a national enforcement strategy for Country of Origin Labelling to be implemented by the states and territories,” Mr Pyne concluded.

The new standard is available on the FSANZ web site at www.foodstandards.gov.au . A user guide to assist industry, retailers, enforcement agencies and consumers understand the new standard will be available on the FSANZ web site in the next few weeks.

In October 2005, the Australian Government directed FSANZ to undertake further work to assess the merit of extending country of origin labelling to two or less fruit or vegetable whole food components packaged together, including where other incidental ingredients are included. FSANZ has commenced this work and will be seeking public comment in February 2006 before reporting in March 2006.

 

Media contact:   Adam Howard, Mr Pyne’s Office, 0400 414 833 
                               Lydia Buchtmann, FSANZ, 0401 714 265