The label industry has welcomed the federal government’s new food labelling system and says it will provide more opportunities for local suppliers. “Anything that makes people pay more attention to the packaging process is good for the industry,” said Mark Easton, president, Label and Tag Manufacturers of Australia (LATMA).
The label industry has welcomed the federal government’s new food labelling system and says it will provide more opportunities for local suppliers. “Anything that makes people pay more attention to the packaging process is good for the industry,” said Mark Easton, president, Label and Tag Manufacturers of Australia (LATMA).
“This is a good starting point that follows on from the leads in the EU and UK markets and more changes are in the pipeline. As well as being beneficial for consumers, it should result in more localised work and more opportunities for our members. The new laws mean that packaging is now recognised as being as important as the product inside and that has to be good for the industry,” said Easton.
The system announced this week means that foods processed locally will have a new label which includes the familiar green and gold kangaroo and triangle icon along with a chart showing the proportion of ingredients that are from Australia. The laws are designed to identify products that are imported into Australia and then re-packed. Establishing the new system will cost Australian businesses an estimated $37 million a year.
A voluntary take-up of the country of origin labels will see changes appearing on shelves later this year with a mandatory rollout scheduled for 2016, subject to approval by the states and territories.
Consumer advocacy group Choice says the new system is inadequate because it fails to clearly tell customers about the country of origin for foreign grown and made foods. “The percentages tell you about the Australian-ness but it doesn’t actually tell you where the food is coming from,” said Tom Godfrey from Choice.