Australia’s second-largest supermarket chain has this week received a warning from the New South Wales state government to stop labelling imported fruit as local produce.
The state’s Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan said on Thursday the NSW Food Authority had “recently been made aware of breaches in relation to the country of origin labelling of unpackaged fresh produce in a small number of food retail businesses”, reported The Australian.
“In keeping with the authority’s graduated enforcement policy, a warning letter was issued to the offending businesses; we are continuing to monitor the situation and in the event further breaches are found these businesses risk further enforcement action.”
One Coles outlet in Broadway, Sydney was reportedly labelling Israeli Jaffa red grapefruit as ‘product of Australia’.
Australian law requires retailers to clearly label the country of origin for fresh produce. The retailer said it is following up the accusations.
Australia’s supermarket chains have also drawn fire this week from the country’s fresh produce wholesalers, who say retail prices are not reflecting the true state of supply.
Both major chains, Woolworths and Coles, have been warning Australian consumers to expect higher prices as a result of the widespread flooding across Queensland and Victoria this month.
But John Roach, head of Victorian wholesale produce lobby group Fresh State, says retail prices are rising much faster across a larger range of products than wholesale prices, which have only seen spikes in specific products.
“My message to everyone is that at a wholesale level we’re not seeing huge fluctuations. We’re seeing little bits here and there but not huge fluctuations, so your prices in the retail shops should be pretty stable,” he told the ABC.
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