A quiz of 100 Wellingtonians in Manners Mall today highlights the urgent need for mandatory country of origin labelling of our food, Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

“Not one person out of 100 people was able to correctly guess where the eight foods in our quiz come from,” Ms Kedgley says.

“The participants were quizzed on eight whole foods – two different packs of bacon, sweet corn, capsicum, prawns, peanuts, porter house steak and dried peaches, bought at a local supermarket. None of them had country of origin labelling,” Ms Kedgley says.

“One product had misleading labelling implying the product is from New Zealand when it is not.

“An overwhelming 41 percent of those surveyed in Manners Mall were only able to guess one food item, 33 percent got two right while 14 percent got none right. The most anyone correctly guessed was four out of the seven foods.

“Most Wellingtonians assumed that ‘Kiwi bacon” came from New Zealand, and were shocked to find it was not,” Ms Kedgley says.

“It’s ridiculous that we have to guess where fresh foods like meat and prawns come from. Consumers cannot make informed purchasing decisions when there is no information about where food comes from – that’s why we need mandatory country of origin labelling of food.”

The Green Party will be repeating the quiz in Auckland on Wednesday, and then releasing the correct results on its website on Wednesday afternoon.

The Green Party survey coincides with the launch of a Country of Origin campaign today at Horticulture New Zealand.

Results of Manners Mall food quiz:
 
None right    14      
One right    41      
Two right    33      
Three right     9      
Four right     3