Say goodbye to misleading country of origin claims
Where does your food come from?
Where does your food come from?
Soon you’ll see full country of origin labels for many of your favourite fresh, thawed and frozen foods.
New rules will require this information on fresh and thawed food from February 2022 and frozen food from May 2023.
Businesses must clearly disclose on the item, product packaging, or signage near the product, the country or ocean in which the food was grown, raised, caught, or harvested.
This is good news for consumers who currently have to take country of origin claims from food suppliers at face value.
Take a ham, for example. At present, packaging could claim the ham is a product of New Zealand – but that pig could have been born, raised and slaughtered overseas, and only processed and packaged in New Zealand.
The result is that some consumers may believe they’re supporting local, but not as much as they may think.
Before these regulations take effect, country of origin food labelling has been voluntary in New Zealand (except for wine).
The following foods will be required to disclose their country of origin:
All of which meet certain criteria of being only one type, fresh, thawed or frozen, and no more than minimally processed.
Any food that doesn’t fall into the above categories is not covered by the new rules – for example, a mixed bag of frozen peas and corn, is more than one type of vegetable and is not included.
Meal kit suppliers, such as HelloFresh and My Food Bag, don’t have to disclose country of origin information (as long as the kit has more than one ingredient).
Your Friday night takeaways and weekend brunch will still look the same. Food prepared for immediate consumption isn’t covered in the regulations.
There can be hefty fees for not following the rules:
Excellent news
I understand that at least one iconic traditionally owned brand, Keri, is now owned by the Coca Cola company, and its juice is apparently no longer sourced in KeriKeri, but imported in tanks from wherever it is most economical. Nowhere on its website is its source disclosed. Coca Cola is simply trading on the familiar history of Keri orange juice, grown and harvested in KeriKeri, NZ. I doubt if most kiwis know this, and if they did many would be more disposed to find a more local source that comes without the baggage of Coca Cola.
It will be interesting to see how Keri Orange Juice is labelled from Feb 22
While it's good to hear about the widened labelling requirements, I too, am concerned that it could lead to even more use of the plastic stickers on fresh fruit and vegetables. These stickers are a classic example of of a one-use annoying use of plastic. I try to remove all stickers so they don't end up in my compost but I'd rather not have to. I do wonder how much of the adhesive material stays on the food and ends up inside me, too. Perhaps a future campaign could be directed towards finding more sustainable means of labelling.
I am very cautious of Chinese pork. What really annoys me is the statement on bacon (and others) "Contains New Zealand and imported ingredients." This tells you absolutely nothing. It might be Marlborough salt but the rest is imported from who knows where.
yep -a 1.5kg bag of Organic rolled oats from that NZ iconic Harraways - with New Zealand all over the bag and Made from Local and imported in tiny writing down the side. I rang to see what was imported. The oats are imported! To their credit, their packaging has changed and is making that clearer now. NZ is part of their name, not their product. I buy non-organic Harraways -only NZ oats used here.
I like to buy frozen rasberries, cherries, strawberries etc. and I have to search very hard for the origan label (often Serbia, Chile or Poland) and knowing this they need to be heated to about 85 degrees before being eaten according to repeated Listener articles. The problem is contamination resulting in diseases like hepatitis. Some of these have New Zealand in the package name and you would therefore think heating was not needed but detailed search shows otherwise. Bring on clearer labelling.
Those little labels they insist on putting on every piece of fruit end up in my compost and then in the garden. They don't break down, or perhaps they do after a long time and end up in the sea as microplastics. They should be biodegradable or edible.
fresh chicken and eggs should be included and more specifically and honestly declared, how they farmed and raised, I dont believe the current labels at all ! as i recently understand most chicken have new altered Genetics making them grow to maximum dollar size in only 6 weeks , when normally used to be 8 weeks, this fast growth results in quicker payments to the breeder, but at the poor chickens expense as they are unable to stand up and get the water which is overhead as their legs cannot support the extra weight and many suffer and die on the shed floor until the workers come through and get them next day, but seems our current unsympathetic government does not care
many made in China, but at least they print where made so you can avoid them. Made from local and imported ingredients is a meaningless statement.
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