Country of Origin Labelling Factsheet

• We import nearly 1.5 million tonnes of food every year from many different countries; in 2006 this included 149,462 tonnes of fruit, 32,207 tonnes of meat, and 39,996 tonnes of vegetables. 20% of the vegetables came from China.

• None of it has to be labelled for country of origin, so frequently the consumer cannot tell where the food they are eating comes from. Very little of it is checked to see whether it contains illegal residues, either, and much of it is fumigated with methyl bromide, a highly toxic and ozone depleting gas.

• In 2006, we imported 10,604 tonnes of lamb and beef - most of it was not labelled as to its country of origin. This means that consumers cannot be certain when they buy meat at their local butcher or supermarket whether it is New Zealand raised or imported. We imported 2.4 times as much meat from Australia as we exported to them.

• Cheap food imports are wiping out our local growers: last year we imported 1,839 tonnes of cheap garlic from China. This has helped to decimate New Zealand's once thriving garlic growing industry. Roxdale sun-ripened apricots have succumbed to cheaper cans of green-picked, acid-treated fruit from South Africa and Spain.

• The Californian Department of Health has issued a warning to consumers not to eat ginger imported from China because it might contain a dangerous pesticide (aldicarb sulfoxide). New Zealand imported 165 tonnes of ginger from China last year.

• 40% of pig meat on sale in New Zealand is imported (though if you walk around a supermarket with a magnifying glass you won't find a label telling you where it's all ended up). About 30% (7,726 tonnes in 2006) comes from Canada; some pig herds in Canada are contaminated with the superbug bacteria MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Pigs in Australia are fed a growth hormone that is not permitted here - last year we imported 10,232 tonnes of pig meat from Australia. Pigs in China have been fed the asthma medication clenbuterol to make them leaner - last year we imported 104 tonnes of preserved pig meat, such as ham, from China.

• Shrimps from China have been found to contain carcinogenic antimicrobials nitrofuran, malachite green, and gentian violet, as well as the banned insecticide DDT, and fluoroquinolone, an antibiotic critical to human health, but threatened by antibiotic resistance. As a result of these concerns, the United States has halted five types of farmed fish from China at the border. 25% of our imported shrimps and prawns come from China - 937 tonnes in 2006 - and none of it was tested for residues.

• Australian tomatoes are dipped in the toxic insecticide dimethoate but New Zealand tomatoes aren't. Dimethoate cannot be removed by washing and has been found to disrupt reproductive function, cause chromosomal aberrations, damage the immune system, disrupt the endocrine system and affect the nervous system.

• A survey in China found candied fruit with 63 times the permitted amount of sweetener as well as excessive additives and preservatives in nearly 40% of the children's snacks. Last year New Zealand imported 1 tonne of glazed fruit from China and 6,152 tonnes of other preserved fruit, which may or may not be sweetened.

• In April this year the United States rejected 137 shipments of food from China because it was "filthy", contained the food poisoning bacteria salmonella, or banned chemicals - but our government does not carry out regular random testing of imported food from China, let alone turn ships away at the border.
  

Why we need mandatory Country of Origin labelling

• so we can identify which country our food comes from;
  
• so we can support our own New Zealand producers
  
• so we can avoid buying food from countries with a poor food safety record