Queensland fishermen continue push for Country of Origin Labelling in restaurants
Queensland fishermen are frustrated calls for mandatory Country of Origin Labelling of seafood in restaurants have not progressed further.
A Senate inquiry made that very recommendation seven months ago, but to date there has been no decision made on the proposal.
Seafood sold in grocery shops must be identified as Australian or imported, but restaurants have been exempt from those laws.
President of the Barramundi Farmer's Association, Marty Phillips, said Australians ate 20,000 tonnes of barramundi per year, but only 40 per cent was caught or farmed locally.
"At the moment, the current system ensures that the fish delivered up to the back door of the restaurant is labelled, they know where it comes from, but at present there's an exemption from that going to the front of the restaurants to the menus," he said.
"Barramundi's a unique situation. It's an iconic species in that it's an Aboriginal word meaning 'big-scale fish' and people just associate barramundi with Australia.
"When you tell them [consumers] that, every day, two out of three meals eaten in Australia is imported, they're just flabbergasted."
Mr Phillips would like to see a similar strategy adopted to that in the Northern Territory, where all outlets selling seafood must identify the country of origin.
The Northern Territory Seafood Council's Robert Fish oversaw the implementation of the labelling system.
"We've seen much better prices for domestic product, much better demand for domestic product [and] we've also seen the availability of cheaper imported products," he said.
"The exemption at the moment [in other states] is provided in the Food Standards Code and that exemption could simply be removed.
"I'm quite happy, if we make the decision that that's the way we're heading, to look at the most efficient and cost-effective way of doing it."
However, the national hospitality body, the Restaurant and Caterers Association, has refused to compromise with producers on labelling.
CEO John Hart said if the Northern Territory's seafood labelling legislation was extended to other states, it would be too costly for many businesses in the food trade.
"It would be a huge additional cost on reprinting menus, for example, and that cost is because the supply chain is so fragmented," he said.
"That would mean a multi-million-dollar bill that the restaurant operators are going to have to pay."
Source: ABC Rural, Lara Webster, 5th August 2015
Originally published as: Queensland fishermen continue push for Country of Origin Labelling in restaurants
