Labour and National vote down consumers’ right to know
The Southland Times has a powerful editorial on Labour and National’s collaboration to reject the 39,000-signature petition supported by the Green Party calling for country of origin labelling on food.
It notes Labour and National’s contention that we have lots of choice is all fair and true if the you are looking for the sort of choice you get on TV gameshows:
How much are you prepared to hazard to find out what’s in the mystery container?
The two big parties contend that we don’t need to worry about food safety because we have the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) keeping us safe:
That name [NZSFA] doesn’t sufficiently describe its role because it has a second duty that the title doesn’t hint at. It’s also responsible for “the facilitation of international market access”. Not only protecting our health but also, as best it can, helping get our produce into overseas markets. The Greens want to remove this bifocal approach. That’s a good idea.
This is not to say the country of origin issue is, or should be, solely about perceptions of food safety.Might consumers want to support local growers? Might they want to shun produce from certain countries for broader social reasons like civil rights abuse? Or to favour others they hold in good standing? Might they even, and we hesitate to suggest such a trivial matter, have a simple flavour preference.
Many countries, notably Australia and the United States, have sucked up the cost, and the darkly described trade implications, of introducing country of origin labelling. They seem to figure it’s what their citizens want and to find that, in itself, compelling enough. In New Zealand, at least as things stand, MPs seem to regard the labelling as an indulgence that should be denied us. In that respect, maybe it is a Nanny State sort of decision after all.
The Greens are often falsely accused of banning things but the reality is that most Green policies are about protecting consumer safety or giving consumers greater access to information so we can make informed choices. It’s Labour and National’s free-trade-at-all-costs policies that are denying consumers’ the right to make informed choices about what we buy and eat.
