Commissioner urges caution on new seafood labelling
New country of origin labelling needs to be assessed in more detail
15 March, 2023
NSW Small Business Commissioner Chris Lamont has called for a detailed assessment of both the intended and unintended consequences of a proposed model for mandatory country of origin labelling for seafood in hospitality settings in Australia.
“I fear many small businesses and industry representatives are either unaware of the proposal or have not examined the proposal in sufficient detail to understand the potential consequences,”
Mr Lamont said.
The Commissioner has raised concerns about the potential costs for small business and the workability of a law that would require small business to change their menus each time they switch between domestic and international seafood.
The Commissioner has made a submission to the Country of origin labelling for seafood in hospitality settings Discussion Paper published by the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources.
In the submission, the Commissioner said that country of origin labelling could result in significant additional compliance costs for a sector particularly hard hit by COVID-19, labour shortages, interest rate rises and increasing input costs.
Survey feedback to the Commission suggests around one in four businesses that sell food containing seafood regularly change their sourcing arrangements due to market factors or recipe substitutions. New labelling requirements would require them to replace their menus on a regular basis. Survey respondents indicated that the average costs associated with making substantial changes to physically printed menus was more than $2,800.
Mr Lamont cautioned that the proposal may also disadvantage the Australian seafood industry if businesses found it easier to implement country of origin labelling by sourcing imported seafood in preference to the local product.