The 'Australian brand' is something farmers across all commodities throughout the country place great value on.
In particular, for farm industries like Australian pork which are exposed to significant competition from imports, strong country-of-origin labelling (CoOL) standards for food have long been a high priority.
APL strongly supports the extension of CoOL requirements on produce such as seafood, which is one reform being considered in a current review of CoOL regulation by the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. APL welcomes the chance to participate in this review as one of the many agricultural stakeholders in 'Brand Australia'.
Since its introduction in 2018, the CoOL bar chart - which is mandatory at supermarkets - has enabled consumers to make more informed choices about supporting Australian produce.
We welcome the recent news that some fast food outlets like McDonalds and Dominos have decided to voluntarily adopt CoOL.
APL, together with other agricultural groups and Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, will continue to encourage other fast food outlets to embrace greater labelling transparency for their customers.
Stronger CoOL standards would enable consumers to more readily identify the difference between Australian pork and the 4000 tonnes of imported, processed pigmeat which arrives on our shores each week.
That imported product is heat-treated, processed and sold in competition with 100 per cent Australian ham, bacon and other smallgoods, made with Australian pork reared by Australian producers.
APL research confirms that most Australians aren't aware the majority of bacon and ham sold in Australia is made from imported pigmeat, a compelling indication that wider uptake of effective labelling standards would create greater awareness about imported pigmeat. Across supermarket shelves or on foodservice menus, we should have clear, visible labelling which enables consumers to make informed decisions about whether to support Australian farmers or opt for an imported product.
It's all about choice.
Australian pig farmers want consumers to identify what's locally produced and what's imported, because they are extremely proud of their industry and upbeat about the role Australian consumers will play in supporting the industry's trajectory in the future.
In the past decade alone, Australia's domestic consumption of fresh pork has increased by 35 per cent. This consumer support has helped the value of our pork industry grow from $3 billion in 2012 to $5.3 billion today.
While we seek to continue to sustainably increase our total pork production, our piggeries' carbon footprint is now 60 per cent lower than it was 10 years ago, with more farms becoming self-sufficient energy generators by capturing and processing methane produced on farm.
Pig farmers are also proud of the way our pork is produced.
We believe if consumers are afforded provenance transparency and the opportunity to make a fully informed choice, support Australian farmers will always be stronger. Indeed, we believe that support from Australian consumers will play a major role in adding an extra $1 billion in value to the Australian pork industry in the next five years.
We're also confident that growing homegrown support will help give us the momentum to surpass chicken and make pork the most consumed meat in Australia by 2025.
