The CoOL war: import labelling sparks trans-Tasman row

A trans-Tasman battle over country of origin labelling has erupted, with representatives for fruit and vegetable growers in Australia and New Zealand trading barbed comments about labelling practices.

AUSVEG CEO Richard Mulcahy has accused New Zealand of importing vegetables from China, repackaging them in New Zealand and selling them in Australia using the labelling claim ‘Made in New Zealand from local and imported ingredients’.

But Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) Chief Executive Peter Silcock said this practice is perfectly legal and called Mulcahy’s comments “sour grapes”.

“Australian growers need to stop complaining about competition and start getting better at what they do,” Silcock said. “There is no difference at all between manufactured food products with ‘Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients’ on the label or ‘Made in New Zealand from local and imported ingredients’.

“The origin of either could be anywhere.”

Mulcahy says this practice misleads consumers. “If they see that something is a ‘Product of New Zealand’ they expect that it has been grown there, not sent from China to get a sprinkling of New Zealand product before being sent to Australia,” Mulcahy said.

“We could walk through the aisles of any Australian supermarket and find dozens of examples of products which have this labelling, which tells you nothing about the origin of the product,” Silcock countered.

“Consumers have to realise there is a huge difference between ‘Made in’ and ‘Product of’. That’s the way the law is. If consumers don’t like it, they need to get their governments to change it.”

Both HortNZ and AUSVEG said they support more stringent country of origin labelling laws so that consumers can be certain of the origin of the products they purchase.