Ardern Shane: Food Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeArdern Shane: Food Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 27 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18340. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country): I rise in support of the Food Bill as well. The member who has just resumed his seat Damien O’Connor who was a substantial contributor in the Primary Production Committee raised the issue of country-of-origin labelling. This was an issue of some debate I have to suggest during the deliberations at the select committee.One of the reasons the committee on balance was not able to reach the position the member is taking was just simply because of the complexity of being able to identify the country of origin of a multi-ingredient food. In some cases where it is a single-ingredient food the manufacturer or the processor of that food can have country-of-origin labelling and of course they would because there is an advantage commercially presumably for them to do so. But imagine having a product that has multiple ingredients and that one minor ingredient in there—maybe even something that is used in the process of producing the food as opposed to an ingredient itself or a cleaning process—has a foreign or non-New Zealand - based substance in it. If the company producing the product says in its labelling that it is a product of New Zealand or of New Zealand only and subsequently it is found out that something involved in the process is not from New Zealand it could end up as a potential contaminant in the food and it potentially would be in breach of that law.On balance it is going to be interesting to see what the Australians do because they have adopted that system. They are going through a thorough inquiry right now. Once we know the outcomes of that inquiry or what they do it will be interesting to see what they actually come up with. So I do not think we are quite at the point of the simplicity that is being described where we can just have a labelling system that identifies exactly the origin of the product and can go with that.Previous speakers have spoken of the fact that this bill does update some fairly old legislation. Probably the main one would be the current Food Act 1981 which is over 30 years old. When you look at what has happened in science and technology and the processing of food and at our need to be very sophisticated I guess in that regard to be competitive in the world—and bearing in mind that this country has an economy that is very dependent on food exports as 72 percent of our tradable exports come from the primary sector and most of that is food but not all of it—then obviously having legislation that is current and able to cope with the complexity of that is essential for New Zealand’s reputation.And that is really what it is all about. This bill is about “New Zealand Inc.” It is about the reputation of New Zealand as a source of high-quality products with systems that are able to respond quickly to any type of food scare—which there will be. We have had of course the recent whey protein concentrate case which was thoroughly investigated and responded to quickly and there will be more. Those who stand up in this House and suggest that it will never happen again are kidding themselves. Weexport thousands of tonnes of protein products all able to carry different types of bacteria so at some stage in the future there will be a further food scare for New Zealand in terms of its exports. That makes it essential to be able to respond in a way that is credible internationally and is backed well and truly by a solid legislative framework. This Food Bill in my opinion moves a long way towards being able to achieve that outcome in a modern sophisticated export market.At the same time it actually frees up a lot of what would be consideredKiwiana activities that were restricted and probably if you read the finer points of the old law were in breach of the law on many occasions. These include what you and I and everyone else in Parliament would consider as just normal activities like a school calf day a marae tangi the exchange of food at various church or other fund-raising activities and even down to the way that a private residence might from time to time take in some travelling guests which probably falls slightly short of what we would deem to be a bed and breakfast but nearly achieves that goal. These would have had to have full compliance and food-handling certificates which of course would make the activities uneconomic and destroy something about what is good about New Zealand.We also saw quite a heavy submission process around what are becoming more and more common—farmers markets and the small processors of various types of food that are traded at these farmers markets. They do not have a high turnover they are not substantial businesses but they do add a certain amount of flavour and colour to what it is to be a New Zealander and what it is to be able to travel around in some of our smaller provincial towns at times and visit these various outfits. They serve up a variety of different beverages and products and foods that are all part of what we enjoy.The legislation itself the Food Bill will replace a number of Acts. There is the Food Act 1981 which I have talked about. It also replaces the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974 and the Food (Safety) Regulations 2002. It amends the Animal Products Act 1999 and the Wine Act 2003. Just by hearing that you can understand the complexity of it. It does not just mean protein foods; there is a range of other products involved.I look forward to the passage of this bill through the House. The select committee did work well together. There was cross-party support on most issues in the select committee. I want to thank the officials. They certainly were put through their paces if you like. They had to work very hard to answer the many complex questions that were raised. The bill itself came out of the select committee and then was reported back to the select committee after the whey protein concentrate case pending the inquiry on that and further amendments were made. I recommend the passage of this bill. I look forward to the passage of the bill.