New Country of origin food labelling laws

Do you sell food in retail stores within Australia? If so, you will need to start thinking about a redesign of your food product labels to comply with new country of origin laws applicable as of the 1st of July 2016. These labels will become mandatory after two years.
The Australian government has developed a Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) online tool that will be available from the end of June 2016, assisting you with the design of the right label for your food products. The CoOL will walk you through a series of questions to assist you in choosing the right label for your products. This is accessible at www.business.gov.au.

The new food labelling laws fall under Australian Consumer Law and is detailed in the CoOL Information Standard 2016. This standard is part of many regulatory changes in order to assist consumers to be better informed about where their food comes from.

Currently, consumers are dissatisfied with the country of origin labelling framework due to the labels being unclear and not being easy to find. Clearer labels allow consumers to be better informed about the food that they purchase. There will be no graphic on the labels of imported food products. However, there will be a requirement to state where the food was manufactured and the origin of the ingredients.

It is important that the country of origin laws stay within what is considered to be fair and reasonable when providing information to the consumer about the origin of the product. This is to ensure that the labelling is not so detailed that it is discriminatory to other countries, as this will create a technical barrier to trade. Give it a go and try out the CoOL to help consumers make an informed decision about which food products they choose to buy.

If you would like any further information on importing food products into Australia via any of our freight forwarding services, please contact Rebekah at Red Nav Pty Ltd on 08 9310 2110.