Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes the report by Voiceless, the fund for animals, From Label to Liable: Scams, Scandals and Secrecy—Lifting the veil on animal-derived food product labelling in Australia which reports that:

(i)

most jurisdictions in Australia do not require animal-derived food products to identify the farm production system from which they have been sourced,

(ii)

the majority of Australia’s animal-derived food products such as pork, chicken and eggs are sourced from factory farms where animals live their lives in conditions that most people would find unacceptable if they were fully aware of them,

(iii)

a number of terms are currently used to differentiate animal products such as barn laid eggs, free range, open range or range eggs, grain-fed beef, free-range, bred free-range, organic and biodynamic but most of these terms are not defined in legislation, which means there is broad scope for consumer uncertainty as to their meaning, and

(iv)

Australia has no standard for labelling of vegetarian or vegan products; and

(b)

calls on the Government to explore the need for clear and enforceable national standards, identifying the farm production system from which food is sourced.

Question negatived.