Australia’s labelling laws are deceptive and do not tell consumers just what they are buying and where products are sourced. This ultimately costs Australians jobs. The Federal Government is currently undertaking a review of food labels. However many foreign owned companies will no doubt be submitting their ideas - AUSBUY suspects that these will not be in the interests of fair labelling. Labels should make is easier for consumers to choose and not be deceived.

Food is a strategic industry and represents a major part of our exports as well as our capacity as a nation to feed ourselves. Labels should be one way of protecting this industry.  Consumers often do not have time to read the fine print and details on a label when they shop. The AUSBUY Guide is one way of deciphering the source of a product. Here are some examples of labels which do not let the consumer know what they are really buying and their source.

1)  Australians want to support products they have been bought up with yet many of these are no longer owned here or even made here. Some labels are deceptive in how they promote to this loyalty.

• Bushells Australia's Favourite Tea - owned by Unilever imported from Malaysia
• Uncle Toby's since 1893 – owned by Nestle  
• Kirks Soft Drinks since 1856 - owned by - Coca Cola 

Increasingly we see house brands replace Australian owned products on the supermarket shelf. Here are examples of deception.

- house brands which say Made in Australia - such as tins of fruit, but do not indicate whether the fruit is local or imported  - Made in Australia means 51% of the wholesale costs were here but with cheap fruit imports that could just be the tin and label. Food labels should put made from local and imported produce if the majority is local produce or made from imported and local produce if the produce is largely imported

• in some instances a house brand may be contract packed by a local business, the label needs to say this and that the product is sourced in Australia and made here.

- country of origin not clear on the pack

• an example is a housebrand tomato paste that says Certified Australian Organic in a large label on the front but at the back in very small text says Product of Italy

- tinned brands which have been Australian owned such as SPC fruit, Ardmona tomatoes do not necessarily show the country of origin when once they came from Australian farmers.

2) Lack of discipline by government authorities means the deception continues. 
Dairy Farrmers milk was bought by the Japanese company Kirin nearly 18 months ago and still the products say Australian owned and made - AUSBUY has written several times to the ACCC asking that these products are honestly labelled and no action has been taken by the ACCC or Kirin to rectify the situation.

Golden Circle fruits and fruit juices still say Australian owned and made and they were bought by Heinz nearly a year ago - no guarantee that the pineapples are still be supplied from Australia - may now be from Thailand or somewhere else in Asia but again the labels do not reflect this.

3) Where does it really come from?
A further issue which is not addressed as it should be is the country of origin of food products. It is ideal that our food is locally sourced. Imports are a different matter as only Australia has a Clean Green growing environment and growers here have to pay ethical wages and ensure a healthy growing environment. Countries like China cannot guarantee this.

In addition products brought from overseas have to travel for weeks on ships using long food miles so they cannot be as fresh as local produce. The impact of food miles and the shelf life and quality of fresh foods will become even more important and other countries recognise this.

• Tescos UK is instituting a policy that food miles and carbon emissions are to be put on all their food housebrands. This will limit imported food other than from the EU.

Several years ago AUSBUY was responsible for having fresh food stores put the country of origin for fresh produce and the major supermarkets largely do this, but are not always disciplined. Certainly few small green grocers have this discipline. It is important for the consumer to know if they are buying foreign foods especially if fresh and supplied in the same growing season as our own e.g. NZ vine tomatoes are sold in our season.

• - In addition many countries will dump oversupply of food into the Australian market at cheap prices which hurts our food producers. We have lost some key growing industries because of this practice and farmers have lost their livelihood and land - peas and beans are key examples.
  - We also sign free trade agreements with countries like Chile to import stoned fruit, which has the same growing season as Australia, lower wages and diseases which we do not have. This will be a huge impost of our Australian farmers yet again.
  - The best fresh foods to eat are those in season and these are usually a little cheaper and locally grown.

4) Other countries have ways of protecting their food growers even though they espouse free trade. Did you know you cannot export foods to countries like the USA unless their Food and Drug Authority (FDA) approves the labels - this is a good way to keep foreign foods out of the USA and still say they are supporting free trade.

Australia does not have a rigorous system for food imports here, and as a result over many years our food producers have been under constant attack from foreign companies and imports - our stoned fruit growers will come under

5) Large companies such as Sanitarium, an AUSBUY member, are looking specifically at nutrition labels - especially as many of their products are health food and special diets as well as their famous cereal products like Weetbix - they show the AUSBUY logo on their products

6) Currently there is no requirement for companies to put whether their food products are Genetically Engineered or not. This is an issue for Australia because we have a uniquely Clean Green and disease free growing environment. Our food exports have been built on this special quality. It is not in overseas competitors interests for us to keep this.

- In the case of GM the problem is even greater although not yet on labels - the seeds for GM canola for example are sold by one multinational company Monsanto and the Australian farmer will have to the buy new seed each year.
- If a non GM Australian farmer has his grain in a silo and then GM is put in and it gets mixed accidentally, the Australian farmer has to pay Monsanto for contaminating the GM product - this is a big issue which needs to be addressed by the Federal Government and labels in the future should clearly state if GM products were used - many consumers do not want GM products in their diets. 

7) The issue of how the Australian flag is used on packaging also needs to be better managed. USA you cannot use the stars and stripes unless you get permission for a license from the US Federal government. You will find there are no regulations here about who can use our flag – this again deceives Australian consumers.

8)  What is in it for Australians?
- Supporting our owned businesses such as AUSBUY members means that the decisions, profits and jobs stay in Australia -buying foreign owned foods means that the decisions are made overseas and many of the profits go overseas as well - we are effectively importing other peoples jobs and ours are lost here.
- Consumers can find out more about labelling by buying the AUSBUY Guide at a local supermarket nationally.
- The AUSBUY Guide assists consumers when they buy products and services to know what products are sourced and owned here. Only AUSBUY has the integrity of representing only Owned and Made businesses which means having high quality standards and paying fair wages and working conditions and with food disease free.

Prepared by The Australian Companies Institute AUSBUY Interviews can be arranged AUSBUY 02 99546144 www.ausbuy.com.au

Copyright – permission granted by Lynne Wilkinson 2nd October 2009

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