Claims of Chinese tomatoes being detected in imported processed food products labelled as from Italy raised in this week’s Four Corners expose wider concerns over Australia’s inadequate country of origin food labelling requirements and testing of imported vegetable products, says AUSVEG.

These allegations undermine the integrity of food systems in Australia, where vegetable growers are held to some of the highest regulatory standards in the world, and warrant further investigation. Regardless of the outcome, these issues must be investigated and acted on to ensure consumers have confidence in what they buy.

Beyond tomato products, a scan of the significant range of imported frozen and canned vegetable products available for sale at Australian retailers this week reveals multiple examples of packaging baring ‘Packed in ‘country’ from multiple origins/imported produce’ labelling. These imported frozen and canned vegetable products of dubious origin are increasingly competing for shelf space at the expense of fresh, frozen and canned Australian-grown vegetables.

Major short-fallings in Australian labelling requirements provide consumers with no indication of the true origin of the imported product they are buying, and continue to seriously undermine the viability of Australian vegetable, potato and onion growers.

AUSVEG CEO Michael Coote said: “Australian vegetable growers are already dealing with serious and escalating challenges to their viability due to surging production costs and compliance burden, difficulties securing viable returns, declining vegetable consumption and a consumer cost-of-living crisis.

“The many operating challenges facing growers mean Australian vegetable producers are increasingly at risk from the flow of imported frozen, canned and processed vegetable products steadily making its way onto retailers’ shelves.

“It is bad enough that imported frozen and canned vegetable products are seriously undermining Australian vegetable growers, but what makes it even worse is that Australian consumers often have no real indication about what they are getting when they chose imported product.

“While current country of origin labelling might tell a consumer what country an imported frozen or canned product was packed or manufactured in, it often doesn’t specify where the produce is actually from.

“This isn’t just an economic issue for Australian vegetable growers, but a food quality, safety and security issue for Australian consumers. Australian vegetables are grown to some of the highest quality, safety, ethical and sustainability standards in the world, but the same cannot be said about imported frozen and canned vegetable products, particularly when we don’t know where it has actually been grown.

“Australia’s country of origin labelling requirements need to be strengthened to clearly tell consumers exactly where the frozen or canned vegetables they are buying are actually from, and imported vegetable products need to be subject to more stringent testing so consumers know exactly what they are eating.

Aussie consumers are urged to choose Australian-grown vegetables every time, because only by choosing Australian-grown can consumers be assured what they are eating is safe and sustainable.”