Aussie Farmers Direct has today launched a nationwide campaign promoting the virtues of everything from pineapples from Yeppoon in Queensland, lemons from Mildura in Victoria and garlic from Gippsland in Victoria.
Keith Louie, CEO of Aussie Farmers Direct says “There has been a lot spoken about imported food in the past few months but now is the time for action. We at Aussie Farmers Direct are asking all Australians to take a closer look at their groceries. The recent imported frozen berry scare is a wake-up call for us all. It just shows the risk of offshore supply and processing of imported food.”
“We have the best farming in the world and yet the average shopping basket of 25 items has travelled a staggering 70,803 kilometres - the equivalent of almost two trips around the world[1]. It’s just plain crazy when we have such great local Australian produce that we can deliver direct to your doorstep.”
The ever-popular garlic is no exception with more than 80 per cent of it being imported to Australia, 80 per cent of this from China[2]. The standards and regulations for imported garlic are inferior to Australia’s, with Chinese produce previously found to be fertilised in human sewage.
To make matters worse, imported garlic is bleached white for cosmetic appeal and fumigated with methyl bromide by Australian quarantine to avoid pests and disease[3]. How’s that for something that’s a key ingredient of many fresh food recipes?
Adrian Antonello, one of a handful of Australian garlic farmers left, said “Cheap imported garlic has really knocked around the Australian industry. In less than a generation, garlic farmers have been wiped out, not able to compete against cheaper Chinese labour at a one tenth the cost of an Australian wage.
“Where this garlic is from, and how it is produced, really matters. Chefs and consumers alike, need to know how this imported garlic has been treated, or better just buy Australian garlic. Fresh garlic is what the market wants – it has potency. Australian garlic is fresher and gives a recipe more punch,” said Mr Antonello.
There has been a resurgence of interest for fresh produce with 8 in 10 Australians agreeing it is important that the fresh food we buy is Australian, but consumers are being misled by confusing and misleading product labelling.
Australian Consumer Law states you can describe produce as ‘Made in Australia’ provided that 51 per cent of its value has been ‘substantially transformed’ in Australia. This value can include the cost to ship it to Australia from overseas and even the cost of the packaging you throw away. For example, a carton of orange juice can legally be labelled as ‘Made in Australia’, when 90 per cent of it is imported concentrate.
In February this year, Simon Talbot, CEO, of the National Farmers’ Federation, said “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. We need to get behind Aussie farmers and buy Australian fresh food.”
Key facts:
- Family farms in Australia have declined by 11 per cent over the past five years and 40% over the past 30 years[4]
- More than $12 billion of food is imported into Australia each year[5]
- The average supermarket shopping basket of 25 items has travelled over 70,000 kilometres [6]
- Australia imports around 10,000 tonnes of garlic – 80 per cent from China [7]
- ‘Made in Australia’ only needs to have 51 per cent ingredients ‘substantially transformed’ in Australia
- Australia is known as ‘clean and green’, that’s one reason our food exports have grown by $8 billion in five years to more than $30 billion [8]
For more information on Australian grown produce, please visit www.aussiefarmers.com.au
