Growers hail country of origin labelling U-turn

Hawke's Bay Vegetable Growers Association chairman Scott Lawson says everyone has the right to know where their food comes from.

Hawke's Bay Vegetable Growers Association chairman Scott Lawson applauds the Government's U-turn on country of origin labelling for food.

"Everybody has a right to know where their food comes from," he said.

"It supports the importance of people being able to purchase New Zealand produce if they want."

The Green Party's Consumers' Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill passed its first reading in Parliament this week.

The bill requires all single-component foods to display country of origin, including packaged and unpackaged foods.

"If compulsory country of origin labelling is compulsory for all clothes and footwear then it should be good enough to have it for food we produce and wish to consume," Mr Lawson said.

Many produce outlets voluntarily labelled where it was grown "and others haven't".

"If somebody wants to choose melons grown in New Zealand versus melons grown in Queensland they should have that right."

Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said consumers had the right to know where their food came from.

"Without this information it's very difficult for them to make informed choices," she said.

"It's what the majority of us want."

A recent Consumer New Zealand/Horticulture New Zealand survey showed 71 per cent of people wanted mandatory country of origin labelling for fruit and vegetables. Only 9 per cent did not support mandatory labelling.

Sixty-five per cent of shoppers said they looked for labelling information when buying fresh fruit but only 32 per cent said they always found it. With fresh vegetables 29 per cent said they always found labelling information.

The government support of Green MP Steffan Browning's Bill is a shift from National's original decision to oppose it. Prime Minister Bill English said there was "quite a bit of discussion" in caucus before the decision was made which reflected "pretty strong consumer preferences".

He said National was always sceptical about new regulation, especially if needs were being met by the current regulation, which was why the bill was first opposed.

There was also some concern it might affect trade agreements.

National would decide after the select committee process whether it would support the bill into law.