The Australian Made Campaign welcomes progress on changes to food labelling laws

The Australian Made Campaign, the not-for-profit organisation that administers and promotes Australia’s green-and-gold ‘Australian Made, Australian Grown’ logo, today welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement that State and Territory Ministers have agreed to support use of the logo in a new country-of-origin labelling scheme for food products.

Under the new system, all food products made or grown in Australia will carry the iconic kangaroo logo, along with a bar chart showing what proportion of the ingredients come from Australia.

Australian Made Campaign Chief Executive, Ian Harrison, said the new food labelling scheme had the potential to greatly improve clarity and consistency for Australian consumers and recognised the announcement as an important milestone for the logo.

“The Australian Made Campaign welcomes the endorsement by the State and Territory Ministers of the Federal Government’s proposed new country-of-origin food labelling scheme,” Mr Harrison said.

“More transparent food labelling will give shoppers a better understanding of the provenance of their purchases and provide Australian farmers and manufacturers with a much-needed leg up.”

“Furthermore, widespread use of a symbol incorporating the Australian Made, Australian Grown logo should further boost the logo's strong connection to Australia, and with that, the sales of great Aussie goods in the domestic and global marketplaces,” Mr Harrison said.

There is still work to be done to finalise the food labelling reforms before they can officially commence as planned on 1 July 2016.  Business will then have two years to transition their food labels to the new arrangements.

For more information visit http://www.industry.gov.au/industry/IndustrySectors/FoodManufacturingIndustry/Pages/Country-of-Origin-Labelling.aspx