Damien O’Connor
Spokesperson for Food Safety

14 June 2013

CoOL must be included in Food Bill fix-up

Moves by the government to exempt sausage sizzles and cake stalls from new food laws don’t change the fact Kiwis will still have no way of knowing where their food comes from, Labour’s Food Safety spokesperson Damien O’Connor says.

“News that a slightly re-jigged Food Bill will be sent back to a select committee is good news, although long overdue

“This bill, which as it stood would have banned the humble sausage sizzle and cake stall fund raisers, has been languishing on the Order Paper for nearly three years.

“The Food Act is clearly outdated. It needed to be revised, but Labour will not support the Bill unless Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) is also included.

“At the moment New Zealand has an exemption from the joint Australia/New Zealand Food Standards Code for CoOL.

“Kiwis deserve to know where their food is grown and the system under which any handling and processing occurred.

“We will only help Food Safety Minister, Nikki Kaye, progress the bill through the select committee and the House if she removes the current CoOL exemption for New Zealand.”

ENDS

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