Australia has taken the next step in improving food labelling to give consumers more meaningful information by recently introducing new Country of Origin requirements. It was started on 1st July 2016 and from 1st July 2018, all priority foods produced and labelled must comply with the new Country of Origin requirements, including imported products. The new requirement consists of three components grouped together: a kangaroo logo if the food has been grown, produced or made in Australia, a bar chart displaying the proportion of Australian ingredients and an explanatory statement declaring the proportion of Australian ingredients. The requirements for countries exporting products to Australia will vary depending on the number of countries that substantially transformed the product and whether it contains Australian ingredients. For many exported products, a statement that says ‘Product of…’/‘Made in…’/‘Produced in…’ contained in a box will be sufficient. For more information on the new Country of Origin requirements, please get in touch with our Regulatory & Labeling Department.
Source: Food Standards Australia New Zealand