Consumers confused over organic labelling

Research from the University of Adelaide has found that despite growing interest from Australian consumers in making ethical food choices, most find food labelling inadequate.

“Although most Australian food labels are currently adequate to allow basic discrimination between products — such as core ingredients and nutritional content — many products today claim to be ‘ethical’ in some way, without consumers really understanding what that means,” says Dr Heather Bray, a senior research associate in the university’s School of Humanities.

Current GM food labelling is inadequate for a number of reasons, Dr Bray says. “While there are laws to ensure that food containing GM ingredients must be labelled as such, there are also a number of exceptions within the labelling requirements.

“There is also no legislation regarding labelling to indicate the absence of GM ingredients. Consumers who buy a product marked as being ‘GM-free’, expecting to receive a ‘healthier’ version of a product, may not realise that all versions of the product available in Australia are GM-free,” Dr Bray says.

General Manager of the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia (NASAA) Ben Copeman said while many products claim to be ‘organic’, the only way for consumers to be 100% sure is to look for a ‘certified organic’ label issued by an approved certifier.

Copeman said most Australian consumers would be unaware that there was a significant difference between products labelled ‘certified organic’ and products labelled ‘organic’. 

“Consumers need to be aware that only products labelled ‘certified organic’ are 100% free of GMOs, hormones, additives, chemicals residues and synthetic fertilisers,” he said.

“Organic products in Australia are certified to a voluntary National Standard by one of five private certifiers, who then apply their own certified organic labels to products,” he said.

“Certified organic products carry a certification logo and certification number. This is the customer’s assurance that there is a third-party verification of the integrity of every step of the production process, from paddock to plate.

“On the other hand, products that are merely labelled ‘organic’ may not be free of chemical residue or may be fully imported and packaged in Australia, with the ingredients unlikely to be certified to an internationally recognised standard such the Australian Standard.”