Pretoria - What’s the main thing you look for on a food label? UK research reveals that consumers’ most sought after piece of information is the “sell by” or “best before” date, followed by country of origin.
That the latter is of such significance to so many is probably no surprise in the wake of the many international food scandals to hit the headlines in recent years, most notably the horsemeat scandal of last year.
EU countries require beef, veal, fish, wine, fresh fruit and vegetables, honey, olive oil and poultry to declare the country of origin on their labels.
“Honey laundering” is the new buzzword in global food circles, China’s national TV having last year revealed that police had discovered a massive production site for fake honey, which contained zero percent of the stuff bees make.
Most non-fake honey on the international market comes from China, where beekeepers are notorious for keeping their bees healthy with antibiotics which are banned in many countries.
So I, for one, try to avoid honey with the word “China” on the label, just in case.
There are other reasons an increasing number of South Africans are paying close attention to the country of origin which is declared on food labels.
Food produced locally is more environmentally friendly, having arrived on the shelf without any fuel guzzling “air miles”; many prefer to support local industry – “food patriotism” – and there is also a perception that it’s fresher.
According to local food labelling regulations, which came into effect in 2012, the country where a food product was produced, processed or packed must be declared on the label.
But in many cases, the country of origin is stated as an “and/or”, which many find confusing and unhelpful.
Last week, Caryn Gootkin of Cape Town tweeted a photo of a pack of raspberries she’d bought from her local Spar, with this question: “What does ‘product of South Africa and/or Poland’ mean? Where did the raspberries come from?”
Someone responded: “We’re encouraged to eat local, not Polish food.”
Which prompted: “It could or could not be local. Or it could or could not be Polish – who knows!”
This appeared to me to be a contravention of the labelling regulations, but dietitian and labelling guru Jane Badham put me right.
Thanks to one of many amendments to the regulations, an “and/or” country of origin declaration is allowed for “single agricultural commodities”.
In words a product which contains one agricultural item, such as raspberries, peas or honey.
This is to account for “climatic, seasonal or other contingencies” which make guaranteeing a single source difficult.
“Crops fail due to drought, or are wiped out by floods, in which case another sources have to be found, and if that meant new labels had to be printed, it would drive up the cost of the product to the consumer,” Badham said.
Clearly the and/or allowance makes the country of origin declaration meaningless.
Take the bottle of honey served to me along with a red cappuccino at a coffee shop at the weekend. Country of origin was listed as: “South Africa and/or Argentina and/or Australia and/or China and/or Zambia”.
Or maybe all five. Talk about an identity crisis!
If you really wanted to know, you’d have to contact the supplier and attempt to track down someone who has current information. - Pretoria News