The horticulture industry is promising to keep the pressure on the incoming Government over bio-security standards.
HortNZ has listed compulsory country of origin labelling on food products as one of its priorities, and despite little support from Government or main political parties so far, it insists it will carry on with the campaign.
HortNZ CEO Peter Silcock, says there is a lot of support from consumers and the public and it’s a real issue.
"It’s one that the public is absolutely passionate about; and they want to know where their food is coming from; and they feel at the moment that people are being a bit secretive about it, because they don’t want them to know.
"So it’s really the support from the public that we are pushing ahead with this. And with the Greens getting more seats in parliament we just never know what might happen.
"This could be an issue that has some negotiation from the Greens from the Greens perspective. It’s a really important issue for New Zealand consumers and that’s the main thing.”
Mr Silcock says it’s disappointing that many of the main political parties perceive the priorities as a trade barrier and believes the statements show an inconsistency within the government’s policies.
"“We’re not trying to stop trade, what we are trying to do is enable consumers to make choices. New Zealand actually already has mandatory of Country of Origin labeling requirements on some products.
"So if it is a trade barrier then the government is being quite inconsistent in terms of the requirement for clothing and shoes to have Country of Origin labelling. So it’s very inconsistent, and it just doesn’t wash with us that this is a trade barrier.”
Mr Silcock says Hort NZ is determined to pull New Zealand’s Bio-security standards and Country of Origin Labelling policies up into the 21st century.
"Most of our trading partners have more comprehensive Country of Origin labelling then we do. So all developed countries have those, the countries that we can determine, and we’ve looked right around the world are places like Guatemala.
"I don’t think that New Zealand as a developed country should be that far behind the rest of the world. So if everyone else has got it including Australia, the US, Europe that a requiring it; why shouldn’t we be able to as well? It’s definitely not a trade barrier.”
