FEDERAL Agriculture and Water Resources Minister David Littleproud has written to fast food outlets urging them to voluntarily display Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) information.
Mr Littleproud has outlined a new push to advance CoOL measures already introduced by the Federal government on retail food packaging, in an effort to inform consumers about imported products that can potentially damage the viability of local farmers and industry.
Seafood Industry Australia (SIA) and Australian Pork Limited (APL) are already lobbying the government for CoOL on food service menus, to build awareness about the impact of cheap imports, versus locally produced products.
Mr Littleproud said the government planned to discuss the issue of voluntary CoOL labelling with the fast food industry in the near future.
“Consumers and farmers fought for years for a simple label showing the consumer where their food comes from,” Mr Littleproud said.
He said consumers deserved to know where their food came from.
“Aussie farmers deserve the chance to collect on their hard work to produce clean, green food and the way to do that is to give consumers the chance to buy it,” he said.
“Many major fast food outlets already use very high proportions of Aussie farm produce.
“No business has anything to fear from consumers knowing where their food comes from – accurate information to consumers is what creates a pure market.”
Mr Littlproud’s call came ahead of a report being released by a working group – led by the Assistant Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Craig Laundy – into options on CoOL in the food service sector, amid the SIA and APL push.
SIA chief executive officer Jane Lovell said the voluntary push by Mr Littleproud was welcomed but the only option for voluntary CoOL on food service menus was mandatory.
“I agree with everything Mr Littleproud has said except for the word voluntary and it can’t just be fast food outlets – it needs to be restaurants and cafes also,” Ms Lovell said.
“I look forward to discussing it with him because we’ve got a good handle on what will actually work.
“It’s good that he’s talking about it but he’s talking about it because of compulsory labelling being introduced, for retail food products.
“We’re on the record as saying we don’t believe voluntary labelling is the solution and have always argued in favour of a mandatory labelling regime.”
National Farmers’ Federation chief executive officer Tony Mahar did not say whether CoOL in food service outlets should be mandatory or voluntary.
“The NFF has a vision for Australian agriculture to be a $100 billion industry by 2030, up from its 2016-2017 value of $63b,” Mr Mahar said.
“To achieve this, the sector will require growth across a number of fronts.
“One such front could well be a move by ‘big fast food’ chains to source more produce from Australian farmers.
“McDonald’s spends more than $1b on food, packaging and other Australian goods and services each year and has a reputation of working with farmers to develop long-lasting, mutually-beneficial relationships.
“Customers value that their meal is made from home-grown produce and often there is a cost benefit of local procurement.”
