The Green Party is calling for an urgent select committee inquiry into the closure of Heinz Watties, Greggs, and McCain food processing facilities.
Green Party spokesperson for agriculture Steve Abel, a Member of the Primary Production Select Committee, has written to the Committee expressing serious concern at the closure of long-standing food production facilities. "Understanding the extent of the impact and risks is a matter of urgency that the Primary Production Select Committee should open an inquiry into," says Steve Abel.
"The closures of Heinz Watties, Greggs, and McCain food manufacturing sites have implications for New Zealand's food resilience and security, will cause significant job losses, and threaten the viability of local vegetable growers."
“The closures, if they go ahead, will reduce local vegetable processing capacity and compromise New Zealand's ability to feed itself with local produce.”
"For a lot of families, frozen vegetables are how they get affordable, nutritious food on the table. We need to understand what losing this processing capacity means for them."
“There is little public information about what led to these factories closing. If the regulatory environment, energy costs, foreign-owner indifference to New Zealand interests, or anti-competitive behaviour from supermarkets is the problem, the public have a right to know."
"We're heading towards greater dependency on imported food, and that puts our food security, food sovereignty, and resilience at real risk."
“I am calling on all parties in Parliament to support this urgent inquiry as a matter of national significance for New Zealand’s food system,” says Abel.
The letter is available here.
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