New food labelling laws that will safeguard Victorian farmers and keep consumers informed when buying meat and dairy at the supermarket have been tabled in parliament.
Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Emma Kealy, said immediate changes to food safety laws were needed, “to ensure stronger consumer transparency, protect our farmers, and hold emerging food technologies like lab-grown meat accountable”.
“Whether milk or meat, supermarket shoppers must be able to easily understand where their food comes from, so they can make an informed choice at the checkout,” Ms Kealy said.
“These changes will ensure a level playing field between natural and imitation products.”
The Nationals and the Liberals amendments will:
- Prevent misleading use of “milk” where a product is not dairy.
- Prevent misleading use of meat descriptors (e.g. bacon, steak, mince).
- Require clear, prominent disclosure where products are plant-based imitation foods or cell-cultivated meat.
The changes will also require disclosure to be clearly visible on the display panel of the product and in equal font size to the product descriptor. For example, products containing lab-grown meat must be labelled, “cell-cultivated meat” or “lab-grown meat.”
The changes will ensure there is no reduction in food safety standards, and that support for meat and dairy farming industries remains steadfast.
“Victorian farmers have a reputation of producing high quality, nutritious and delicious food, but their premium brand must not be used by other products masquerading as meat and dairy,” Ms Kealy said.
“Victorian farmers produce the real thing. They shouldn’t have to compete with products that borrow their name but not their standards.”
“Only the Liberals and Nationals will support our farmers to ensure the quality of their products is protected.”