The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that current U.S. Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) measures are inconsistent with the U.S.’s WTO trade obligations. The WTO had examined complaints by Canada regarding the United States’ current CoOL requirements. The U.S. Food, Conservation and Energy Act imposes mandatory CoOL for beef, pork, chicken, lamb and goat as well as some perishables sold by U.S. retailers. The WTO ruled that the requirements discriminate against foreign livestock. In... ...Read more »

Despite two-thirds (67 per cent) of Australian consumers saying they believe it is important for grocery products to be sourced locally, only 33 per cent claim to buy local food and drinks regularly, according to a survey undertaken by global consumer research group Datamonitor. Datamonitor surveyed Australian consumers during May and June 2011. The findings, published today, suggest a “clear disparity” between the number of consumers who attach importance to local products, and those who actually... ...Read more »

Reports of vegetables from China entering Australia via New Zealand without being labelled as Chinese have sparked calls from a major farming organization in Queensland to demand the New Zealanders cooperate on tighter Country of Origin Labelling (‘CoOL’) to comply with the mandatory Australian CoOL requirements. According to some reports, vegetables grown with food chemicals that are banned in other countries are gaining access to Australian markets through New Zealand. It has been alleged that... ...Read more »

Consumer advocacy group CHOICE claims unpackaged meat products sold in Australia should be subject to the same country of origin labelling requirements as other food products. Currently, the only unpackaged meat products that require country of origin labelling under the Australian Food Standards Code are pork and seafood. CHOICE wants mandatory labelling extended to unpackaged beef, sheep and chicken meat in accordance with a proposal by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). FSANZ’s Proposal... ...Read more »

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) have proposed to extend country of origin labelling to unpackaged beef, sheep and chicken meat. Currently, only some unpackaged foods require country of origin labelling: pork, fish, fruit and vegetables. The proposal follows changes in the rules for beef imports that were made in 2010. “The change caused concern among consumers about identifying the origin of unpackaged beef,” said Steve McCutcheon, Chief Executive Officer of FSANZ. “Information... ...Read more »

The Australian Food and Grocery Council, together with not-for-profit barcode standards body GS1 Australia, have called for industry support for their new smartphone app, GS1 GoScan, which will allow extended labelling of products via barcode scanning by consumers. Initially available for iPhone, GoScan has the capacity to list accurately a large amount of “real time” product data to consumers, including ingredients, nutritional content, RDI information, dietary statuses such as Kosher/Halal/Organic... ...Read more »

Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have been taken to task over dodgy origin labelling, after an investigation by the NSW Food Authority revealed that two stores were selling mislabelled fruit The incident marks the first time Coles and Woolworths have been fined for Country of Origin labelling breaches, and both have been placed on the NSW Food Authority’s Name and Shame register. Woolworths at Newington in Sydney has been fined $1540 for advertising lemons for sale as being the “Product... ...Read more »

UK food manufacturers and retailers yesterday published guidelines on country-of-origin labelling to encourage consistent information on food labels. The “principles on country-of-origin information”, drawn up by industry bodies including the British Retail Consortium and the Food and Drink Federation, come as European politicians discuss whether to bring in regulations across the EU. The guidelines apply to meat, processed meat and dairy products. The term ‘British’ can only... ...Read more »

Australian Greens Deputy Leader Christine Milne has called for more stringent and accurate labelling for locally produced and processed food, based on a strong response in the latest Roy Morgan poll on food labelling. “The poll results released this week show 90 percent of Australians are more likely to buy food that is labelled as ‘Made in Australia,” she said. “At face value, this groundswell of support for local food is encouraging, but as our struggling producers know, it... ...Read more »

Territory seafood consumers will have their chance to have their say on the Territory’s first-of-its-kind seafood labelling laws, introduced by the NT Government two years ago. The Territory introduced Australia’s first fresh produce Country of Origin labelling as a condition of licences to sell seafood in the NT in 2008. NT Minister for Fisheries Kon Vatskalis last year also provided $17,500 to the NT Seafood Council, for a promotional campaign to encourage Territorians to buy local seafood.... ...Read more »