by frog
Green MP Sue Kedgley says “Let’s Go Shopping” and find out what’s in our food and where it’s from. Oh. They don’t have to tell us that stuff. What a surprise!
Visit our Safe Food Campaign webpage for more information.
Published in Campaign | Economy, Work, & Welfare | Health & Wellbeing by frog on Fri, May 2nd, 2008
Tags: Campaign, Country of Origin Labelling, Food, Frog, frogblog, green, party, SAFE, shopping, Sue Kedgley
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
I’ve noticed they don’t say what is in beer either…
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I read with laughter:
39,000-signature petition presented to Parliament
Move on guys, get over it.
What about the 280000 people who signed the S59 petition, Sadford tells us to move on. How many of the 39000 are void or duplicated?
Hypocrites.
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Are you annoyed because you were one of the ones who didn’t see anything wrong with signing it 3 times, but it got noticed?
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Keep up the good work Sue!
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This blog links in with the discussions on the removal of GST from food thread re: the benefits of growing your own food – primarily for financial reasons in that case, and for health reasons in this case. I’m not at all keen on gardening but have found a solution. My mum loves gardening, but not keeping animals – other way round for me – so mum is about to put in a large vege garden at her place, and I’ll be building a chicken coop – financed by Grandma, who may expect the odd spinach omelette. Unfortunately no room for cows or sheep here (Have guinea pigs but not much of a meal there)
Not exactly The Good Life in terms of self sufficiency, but a start. Thinking that family or community co-ops need to be somehow supported and encouraged as a viable option (hmm think big bro said something like that?). Through community start up grants perhaps? Not that I’m meaning to sound like the ‘red’ green …..
Back to Sue Kedgley’s vid, I’m very much a supporter on country of origin labelling. Would buy NZ grown garlic over that imported from China any day.
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Bzzzzzt!
The tinned Italian tomatoes are better. The New Zealand variety is too watery for sauces.
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BluePeter – do you still get Sue’s prize I wonder?
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Yay,
Lets all not buy anything from the third world and massively increase the cost of food by producing biofuels from organic materials
Vote Green
Kill the poor
Sounds like a good election slogan for you guys
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My work partner who is Uruguan told me yesterday that someone from our government tried to buy Urugauys main milk distributer so as to import cheaper milk back to here,the company turned down the offer,my mate likes to read his countries online news articles everyday,i don’t how old this news is but what gets me is “How come we need to import milk?”
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Have you seen the price of our cheese?
At $30 per kilo vs $20 and under for steak??? …
If you want something that isn’t Cheddar (15 brands, 23 flavours) it IS going to cost your favorite appendages.
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$30 a kilo…for camembert?
emmess, might want to check your sources on the biofuels bit…
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I was talking a fairly mundane Swiss… I just know that we (supposedly) export dairy products and we (certainly) see prices for ANY form of Swiss that are almost exactly comparable to what the Swiss export. That’s just ridiculous. In a country with the dairy resources we have to pay that much more for swiss cheese than for sirloin… ?
BJ
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barking rabbit
Watties used to – I assume this is still the case?
In 2007 they wrote in an annual report: “rather than use its New Zealand grown crop of tomatoes to compete with plain canned tomatoes imported and sold at low cost, Heinz Wattie’s has created new and interesting combinations and flavours, such as Moroccan style, Pesto style, Smoky BBQ flavour, Tomatoes with Sweet Chilli and Indian Spiced Tomatoes.”
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So what’s my prize
A free months worth of petrol?
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Yeah I was wondering about those.
BP. Why were you reading the Watties Annual Report??
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Actually instead of being a wise ass i looked up “New zealand tomatoes watties” on google, and there you go. Come on Kedgley!
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StephenR
Indeed. Google is the enemy of spin
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Anyway, it wasn’t exactly an in depth video, and I *would* like to know where everything is from (yes, if it’s made in NZ it probably says), as sometimes I don’t have an NZ choices at all.
Tescos’ new approach re: carbon is interesting http://tinyurl.com/5dovx7
but sounds hard.
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ALL Watties tins of tomatoes state ‘made from NZ and/or imported ingredients’ The problem is that you can *never know* which you are getting. I don’t like gambling with my food. You won’t win Kedgley’s prize with a tin that you cannot prove is 100% NZ tomatoes.
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I have the same problem when at the supermarket – I don’t want the flavoured tomatoes that Watties sells. I am perfectly capable of flavouring my own food, thanks! Sue’s right – there aren’t plain canned tomatoes clearly produced in NZ.
I don’t mind buying the Italian canned for now as at least I know they are GM free!
It’s constantly disappointing to see so much imported fresh fruit and veg at the supermarket – not long ago I saw Italian Kiwifruit at Foodtown! The mind boggles… the government doesn’t seem to give a hoot about any core food producing industry except dairy – the most polluting and environmentally degrading of them all.
I absolutely support country of origin labeling – it’s a consumer right and the fact that we are still fighting for that right is extremely disappointing and revealing. Why is it that any other product has country of origin labeling and yet FOOD the most essential and important consumable of all is somehow exempt?!
I agree there needs to be strong investment in community gardens – as in many many other countries. We’ve ‘modernised’ and ‘progressed’ the old backyard vege patch almost out of existence in this country. It’s time to turn back to things that worked and move forward with sustainable technology.
Even ’salt and vinegar’ chips have MSG (621) in them!!!!
I don’t think the video was meant to be in depth – it’s a basic message about a basic issue that concerns everyone, but that few people are informed well about. It serves it purpose and if you actually care about the food you eat you’ll go out and do your own research and not rely on the Greens to do it for you.
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>>a tin that you cannot prove is 100% NZ tomatoes.
Sue said “a tin of New Zealand tomatoes”. Watties state: “rather than use its New Zealand grown crop of tomatoes to compete with plain canned tomatoes imported and sold at low cost, Heinz Wattie’s has created new and interesting combinations and flavours, such as Moroccan style, Pesto style, Smoky BBQ flavour, Tomatoes with Sweet Chilli and Indian Spiced Tomatoes”.
What more proof do you required? A sticker on each tomato?
Given my Grandfather was a market gardener – who grew tomatoes in Nelson – and whom I used to work every summer picking ‘em, I think I could do it by taste alone!
The Romas are superior for sauce making. The skin is thicker.
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I would imagine the imported ingredients in this case are the some of the spices. But really, I don’t want to have to guess where the ingredients are from, nor do I want to search for press releases.
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jeez it cold down now here dudes so cold,
I lit the coal fire but the storm was so bad I got hungry, and I had to eat our NZ bred pet Unicorn, taste ok, but my daughter no0t pleased with me,
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What about those people who demand to know if the packers were black? Muslims? Was the product grown in the month of May?
There’s all sorts of information people could demand in order to be “better informed”, and insist we all pay for, by way of increased regulation and compliance.
Alternatively, why not put your requests to the manufacturers themselves? If there is a sufficient market for the information, they will surely provide it.
Given that SFA people signed the petition, I guess “Made in NZ” remains a minority interest.
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Flavoured tomatoes don’t count!
Sue said ‘tomatoes’ not ‘mexican tomatoes’ nor ‘cajun tomatoes’ ‘petsto’ or whatever else Watties like to make and market to people.
Straight, no questions asked TOMATOES!
More proof IS required – a label that says 100% NZ grown tomatoes in this tin! NO exceptions.
I am sure many of us can identify different kinds of tomatoes BP. You’re not the only one with experience in tomatoes.
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*pesto
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Ash,
Looks like you’re moving the goalposts
Who said flavored tomatoes don’t count? You? In the video, Sue said “tomatoes”, but offered no distinction between flavoured and plain. If there was a distinction to be made, she would should have said so. There was no qualification made about the label having to say “100% grown tomatoes”, either.
>>You’re not the only one with experience in tomatoes.
That is correct.
Most New Zealand tomatoes these days are hydroponic and the varieties leave a lot to be desired, in my view. Mostly Dutch variants, I believe.
I think most people buy on price when it comes to tinned tomatoes. I’m an exception, and not unlike you. I buy on source i.e. Italy, which, as luck would have it, also happen to be the cheapest.
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Bloody shoddy imported garlic .. grown in who knows what contaminated land, sprayed with any number of pesticides, fumigated when shipped.
Wake up folks – garlic is easy to grow. We had an awesome garlic crop last January, have more than enough to supply us with 3 large bulbs per week, giving it away to friends. You don’t need much land – just say no to imported crap – take back some of your food supply. Next crop is planted in about a month – it needs the cold weather to force it out of it’s dormancy.
P.S. Try real garlic roasted whole and then cut in half horizontally – yummy !!
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BP, you’ll find most Italian tomatoes are packed in Italy with no indication as to their country of origin. Non existant labelling laws yet again hand control to the shark-in-the-middle and deprive growers and consumers of power in the market.
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And flavoured tomatoes are no more tomatoes than 1980’s “wine cooler” was wine.
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If you’re looking for good varieties of tomatoes to grow here’s some starters:
- San Manzano: a Roma type, great for sauce making and drying as it is dryish to start. Good flavour.
- Brazero (sp) and Tumbler: smallest fruit (approx 2.5cm) great flavour, ripens and crops early (outdoor grown we were eating them just after Xmas in Chch). Also a determinate variety so not essential to stake.
- Cockatoo: heavy cropping grafted with med sized good flavoured fruit.
- Taupo: grafted very heavy cropper with med/large tasty fruit.
More practical suggestions from the Greens, unlike some of the right wing whinging I’ve read here in the last couple of days.
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If you’re looking for good varieties of tomatoes to grow here’s some starters:
- San Manzano: a Roma type, great for sauce making and drying as it is dryish to start. Good flavour.
- Brazero (sp) and Tumbler: smallest fruit (approx 2.5cm) great flavour, ripens and crops early (outdoor grown we were eating them just after Xmas in Chch). Also a determinate variety so not essential to stake.
- C*ckatoo: heavy cropping grafted with med sized good flavoured fruit.
- Taupo: grafted very heavy cropper with med/large tasty fruit.
More practical suggestions from the Greens, unlike some of the right wing whinging I’ve read here in the last couple of days.
(frog’s spam catcha ate my last comment)
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>>you’ll find most Italian tomatoes are packed in Italy with no indication as to their country of origin
Italy, Spain, Europe. I don’t really mind, so long as they taste right.
Good idea about the garlic. Any seeds in particular you recommend, or do they all do well here?
>>And flavoured tomatoes are no more tomatoes than 1980’s “wine cooler? was wine.
Heh heh. I agree, although for the purposes of winning I prize, I disagree in terms of the frame of reference provided by the video.
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Grow from cloves?
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> “Who said flavored tomatoes don’t count? You? In the video, Sue said “tomatoes?, but offered no distinction between flavoured and plain. If there was a distinction to be made, she would should have said so. There was no qualification made about the label having to say “100% grown tomatoes?, either.”
Who you said they could count? You? Sue explicitly said ‘tomatoes’ not ‘tomatoes with other ingredients’….. did she not? go figure!
Anyway, I realise you just want the prize and will take that as the reason for your open manipulation of Sue’s meaning of can of tomatoes. Though I would advise against this practice as it is dishonest.
> “What about those people who demand to know if the packers were black? Muslims? Was the product grown in the month of May?”
In the words of Tui – Yeah Right!
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Ash, you’re just trying to keep me from my prize, which I’m certain will be substantial
>>Yeah Right!
Same with compulsory origin labeling. Most people aren’t bothered where the food comes from, so long as it is safe to eat, tastes good, and is priced right…
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just read through all of todays posts. entertaining and informative. you were right, StephenR, not all bad (;
fastbike- thanks for the gardening tips. Will use (or at least pass to mum).
BluePeter – All this to and fro’ing (sp?!) and meanwhile someone could be claiming your valuable prize. Have you contacted Sue?! Better get in quick before someone gets your stuff!
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Food is for the rich pricks, thanks for nothing you greenish tree buggers .
My kids starve but the politicians get fat!!!
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test
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Aunt Ruby’s German Green (tomatoes) available from King’s Seeds. Fantastic flavour. Still got a few hanging on withering vines out in the kitchen garden.
Might eat one (because they are often huge) tonight.
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I guess my question is –
Is it really safe, and is that the true cost? (despite its tastiness I want to answer those questions before I buy and eat it)
As a person and then a consumer, the information to allow me to answer that would be invaluable.
respect
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ash – that’s kinda huge. “Is it really safe, and is that the true cost?” Good measuring stick to judge purchases by. Cost, as demonstrated, can mean different things to different people. Monetary, obviously, treatment of labour force, use of bio-fuels etc. Surely if we buy NZ made, the sphere of influence we need to take into account is smaller and manageable? … i.e. NZ labour conditions and use of resources. I would hope that in our little country, we can use our voices to influence what is happening in the area of food production and labelling? Looking forward to growing garlic – yum!
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BP,
I don’t know the variety as we don’t use seed. We just save some of our better bulbs and split those up for planting stock – natural selective breeding ala Mendel.
Ash. I like your wording “Is it really safe, and is that the true cost?”
BR, my pleasure. It’s nice to see a more civilised tone here this weekend (if we ignore d4j’s incomprehensible outburst.)
Frog. Can we have a Kiwi English spell checker please – my “civilised” in the para above is highlighted but this “civilized” is not. Thanks.
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I’m not sure that ‘industry’ is really going to be too keen on labelling their products country of origin (‘for the market’) if say, that country has non-existent pesticide safety rules, or ones that aren’t carried out…
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The image is failed in my side, is it about unsafe food?
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