Labelling Laws

I wait in the motel reception this afternoon while the owner takes what turns out to be a long winded telephone call. I’m waiting to finalise my account as I will be leaving very early in the morning; I pick up a motel brochure and commence reading. This brochure is in the room but on reading it again I see I have missed something important. Something of great interest to me. I can hire a tablet for a nominal sum; I get it immediately, along with a few instructions and I find it more user friendly than similiar devices I have used in the past.

After playing around on the tablet for a while I settle down to do some serious research. I decide to look for some labelling information. I look at two sites: www.foodstandards.gov.au and another belonging to the ACCC  and consider them both useful sites for defining words on labels.

However, nothing is ever as simple as you might like it to be. The ACCC is a transition website and this publication here concerning country of origin and Australian Consumer Law is being reviewed. Enough said – especially when I see the publication was last published in 2011. I do look at the current electronic version and make a note of information around the words Made in Australia which might be useful in the future.

The Fsanz site offers a little more about unpackaged foods and country of origin labelling. I read and I am bewildered; each sentence is more bewildering than the last. I move on to the paragraph about exemptions from country of origin labelling and find this:

Are there any exemptions from country of origin labelling?

There are some exemptions for country of origin labelling. For example it is not required when food is sold to the public for immediate consumption, for example food sold in cafes, restaurants and canteens, or where a food is made and packaged on the premises it is sold, such as a bakery where the bread is baked and sold on site.

Now there’s something to think about.

 Bread. Eating out in cafes and restaurants.

 If I am going to take on the challenge of eating Australian only food it will certainly need to be modified to a part time challenge.

It’s after midnight now and I am too tired to read any more. I need a few hours sleep before I leave town on the 6.30 a.m. bus -  when the sun will hardly be above the horizon.