THE latest changes to food labelling laws will not prevent the careless or the downright unscrupulous producer from disguising the origin of processed foods but it does make it easier for consumers to make an informed choice.
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Soon shoppers will see the percentage of Australian ingredients in the food displayed on the label.
That is a great way to alert shoppers to the fact that in this global food market not all the ingredients in an Australian made product were in fact grown or produced in Australia.
We will be able to see for example that not all the goodies in a desert were produced here. The problem is manufacturers are not required to say where the remaining ingredients came from.
China, with its recent history of food contamination, would be a huge shopper turn-off if it was listed as the country of origin for some berry-based ingredients.
There are no doubts other examples of imported foods being contaminated and consumers should have the right to know where all the ingredients were grown or made before they put the food in their mouths.
Part of the reason the new regulations fall short of identifying the origin of non Australian ingredients may be cost.
Complying with the new labels will be expensive in the first place but if the source of some imported ingredients changes with seasonal availability or price this would mean producing yet more new labels.
Imported garlic for example can come from China or South America, depending on who is exporting and at what price.
There are genuine reasons why telling the whole story of how the food on your plate got there is not as easy as you might think.
The good news is that any product that scores 100 per cent on the green-and-gold kangaroo label is fair dinkum and if it costs a cent or two more to be able to choose on that basis research shows most Australian shoppers are happy to pay.