The CEO of the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF), Simon Talbot, has welcomed the news that the Prime Minister is looking to toughen up screening of imported food products.
“Unfortunately, this sort of food contamination problem was bound to happen,” Talbot said.
“Consumers need to know that cheap, imported, frozen food is not produced under the same stringent health and hygiene standards that we have in Australia.
“Our scientific, regulatory and quality processes are world’s best practice. We are importing food from places that are a long way from that.”
“Across the world, people are prepared to pay for the high quality and safety of our food. They know that Australian food is produced under proper conditions and supervision.”
Talbot said that the NFF was concerned with the issue of proper labelling across the board.
“People need to know exactly where their food has come from. If they don’t, they can’t make the informed choices they are entitled to make, and they want to make. Buying Australian is the smart thing to do – but people need to know what is grown and produced in Australia, under our controls, and what isn’t.”