Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2017C00920:reg:6:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2017C00920
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 6 (pt 1/5)
Character Range: 5260–8045

6  Outline of this information standard

Overview

This information standard provides for mandatory country of origin labelling requirements for food that is sold (including offered or displayed for sale) in Australia. It does not impose labelling requirements on food sold outside Australia.

Under this information standard, most food for retail sale in Australia must be labelled with a country of origin. There are different labelling requirements depending on whether the food was:

       * grown, produced or made in Australia
       * packaged in Australia
       * grown, produced or made in another country
       * packaged in another country.

Most food grown, produced, made or packaged in Australia will need to carry a standard mark. There will generally be two or more marks from which to choose. In addition to a country of origin statement, the marks include an indication of the proportion of Australian ingredients by ingoing weight through text and a bar chart. If all of the food in a display or package was grown, produced or made in Australia, the mark will also include a kangaroo logo. In some circumstances, more detailed information can be voluntarily added to the text in a standard mark.

For most imported food (food grown, produced, made or packaged in a country other than Australia), the country of origin statement will need to be in a clearly defined box. Where imported food includes Australian ingredients, a standard mark showing the proportion of Australian ingredients by ingoing weight through text and a bar chart may be used voluntarily.

For non-priority foods, the requirements for standard marks and the placement of origin statements in a box are voluntary, rather than mandatory. Non-priority foods are set out in section 9, and are foods for which Australian consumers are least concerned about origin information.

General provisions

The terms 'grown', 'produced' and 'made' are defined in section 8.

A food can be described as grown or produced in a country only if virtually all of its content is from, and virtually all of the processing is undertaken in, that country. Any food that can be described as grown or produced in a country can also be described as made in that country. A food can be described as made in a country if it was last substantially transformed into the final food through one or more processes that occurred in that country.

All standard marks in the information standard include a bar chart showing the proportion of Australian ingredients by ingoing weight. Section 10 includes a table listing bar charts and the ranges of percentages of Australian ingredients to which they apply. Section 11 sets out the methods for calculating the percentages of Australian ingredients by ingoing weight. Section 12