None of us likes to be duped. We want to know that what we are buying is exactly what the label says it is. Authenticity and provenance are an act of faith between seller and buyer. Loyalty is also an act of faith.
The renowned South Australian chef Maggie Beer has found to her cost, reputational if not financial, that if you don’t tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in your labelling, then you will be outed. In her case, it was the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that outed her.
The brand on her foodstuffs is “Maggie Beer, A Barossa Food Tradition”, which the ACCC said implied that her products were made in South Australia.
But some of her products – ice cream, olive oil, vinegar and biscuits – are made by other companies in Victoria and Queensland. They may have been developed in her Barossa kitchen, but they were made interstate.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims said consumers made decisions based on a product’s origin and used this to decide the value of the product.
“We had a particularly pointed complaint. It was somebody who said they were sick and tired of companies purporting to be local, South Australian. It was a clear complaint and that’s what drove this investigation.”
He said it was “very important to have accurate representations about where a product is made, how it is made.”
“That’s what a lot of customers are interested in and that’s what they pay a premium for.
“Protecting the integrity of credence claims made about food products is a priority enforcement area for the ACCC.
“The Barossa Valley is a nationally recognised premium food and wine destination, and businesses in that region use place of origin claims to promote or distinguish their product from others in the market.
“Misleading representations about the origin of products to capitalise on this demand undermine the integrity of credence claims which are relied on by consumers and, equally important, can harm competing producers whose products are made locally.”
So this is evidence that although there is a common cry that we should all support local producers, our local farmers, it doesn’t mean it is necessarily going to happen. Even Hercule Poirot would have difficulty discerning where this food originated.
Beer’s case concerned confusion about production within Australia. Perhaps more important and more sinister is the state of country of origin labelling. Australian laws in this area are ridiculous. We don’t know what we are eating.
Roy Morgan Research tells us that eight out of 10 older Australians say they try to buy Australian-made products, but younger generations are less discerning.
Yet our produce is second to none. When you buy Australian, you are supporting local jobs and local economies. These goods have also been produced to Australia’s high standards of hygiene and quality. Of course, we would urge you to buy Tasmanian first, Australian second.
The complexity and ambiguity of food labelling here came under review from the Council of Australian Governments.
What, for instance, does “Product of Australia” actually mean? What does “Made in Australia” mean when it is possible to buy products so labelled that are made entirely with imported ingredients, but processed in Australia.
South Australian senator Nick Xenophon has pointed out the stupidity and danger of that.
“We now have a situation where consumers could be buying a meat pie that says Made in Australia where the packaging and the pastry are from Australia but the meat is brought in from a mad cow-affected country and consumers will be none the wiser. How can that be fair?”
Yet Dr Geoffrey Annison of the Australian Food and Grocery Council is quoted as saying: “We’ve got no evidence that demonstrates country of origin labelling is a top level issue for consumers.
“We’re quite happy with the current provisions. It allows products made in Australia from overseas ingredients to be correctly identified and to give credit for the fact that a lot of the value of the product is produced here. If you don’t allow a Made in Australia claim on that type of product, you wouldn’t allow it on a Holden car.”
As usual, what we seek as farmers is honesty and a level playing field. That’s what consumers tell us they want, too.
People have a right to be able to tell at a glance the origin of their food and where it has been processed. If Australians want the choice of local and imported foods, then the imported product has to meet the same health and production standards as the hoops local farmers have to climb through. And we need to be able to rely on transparent and simple labelling to help us make informed choices.
TFGA chief executive Jan Davis
