‘An insult to beef producers’: Albanese government sits on report into food labelling

A Senate inquiry into labelling for plant-based meat alternatives handed down its report three years ago - and still nothing’s been done.

The Albanese government is yet to act on an election commitment made three years ago to regulate labelling for plant-based food products such as “meat-free sausages” and “chicken-style burgers”.

A seven-month Senate inquiry led by Queensland Nationals Senator Susan McDonald investigated Australia’s existing food labelling regulations and their adequacy since the rise of alternative plant-based protein products.

The inquiry handed down its final report in February 2022 with nine recommendations to bring greater clarity to consumers, including establishing a mandatory regulatory framework for the nascent food category.

It also recommended the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission develop a national standard that defines and restricts the use of meat category brands to animal protein products.

More recently the Albanese government set aside $1.5m in its 2024-25 budget to deliver on its commitment to improve existing regulations for labelling of plant-based and alternative protein products.

But Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the government was still considering the Senate’s work.

“The government has been focused on implementing its commitment to deliver accurate and clear food labelling so that consumers have informed choice,” Ms Collins said.

Cattle Australia chief executive Chris Parker says consumers deserve to have clarity when purchasing protein products.

Cattle Australia chief executive Chris Parker said the federal government’s lack of action was incredibly frustrating and an insult to consumers and Australian beef producers.

“The federal government has had three years to act on the Senate inquiry recommendations to address truth in labelling for fake foods … The use of the word beef and images of cattle on fake foods has been proven to be confusing to consumers, and actually weakens the value of the real thing,” Dr Parker said.

The Alternative Proteins Council said labelling of plant-based meat alternatives has changed considerably in recent years.

An audit the APC conducted in January last year compared front-of-packet labelling practices to data collected in a similar audit in 2021 and found there had been a reduction in the use of animal terminology in product names.

Of the 272 products reviewed last year, only three per cent used an unmodified animal meat term such as “chicken” or “beef”, compared to eight per cent three years earlier, while 68 per cent of products did not use an animal meat term in the product name, choosing qualifiers such as “burger”, “mince” and “tenders” instead.

The council’s report said there had been little change in the number of products featuring animal depictions, which was about 10 per cent.