Federal member for Page Kevin Hogan has called for stronger Country of Origin labelling in the wake of the Frozen berry Hepatitis A outbreak.
“I am strongly advocating to Agricultural Minister Barnaby Joyce that the Government strengthens our Country of Origin labelling laws,” he said.
“We were all shocked when Australians starting contracting Hepatitis A after eating imported frozen berries and this has re-enforced the need for simpler and more transparent food labelling.”
“Current food labelling is misleading.”
Mr Hogan told Parliament on Monday that consumers want “simple new food labelling laws and they want it clearly stated where the product is grown”.
“I think consumers would be happy to pay a little bit more for an Australian product because they would be supporting our farmers and taking out an insurance policy against getting sick,” he told Parliament.
“At the moment a product can say it is Australian made on the label but doesn’t need to necessarily contain Australian ingredients – this has to change.”
A Choice survey in 2014 found nearly 90 per cent of Australians were unclear about where their food comes from.
