Food facts on the label

FEBRUARY 26, 2015: AN issue which has been raised with me on numerous occasions is the need for country of origin labelling on food products.To simply have wording like “Made in Australia from local and imported products” is just not good enough.People want to know where their food comes from, and how much of it is Australian.They want to know that when the labelling states “Made in Australia” it means exactly that, and they want to know that their dollars are going to support Australian farmers.The Nationals have been talking about this for decades and today the Liberal National Government has announced that the process of making such labelling mandatory has begun.It’s a move that will be welcomed by all consumers.As Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce said “The new labelling system should give the Australian man or woman pushing their shopping trolley no doubts as to the origin of the food they buy.”I’ve also asked Minister Joyce to ensure country of origin laws extend to restaurants serving seafood and meat products.We impose so many costs and protocols on Australian producers to ensure a higher quality product, and if we’re going to do that we need to acknowledge it through labelling.