A new Green Party Bill will make it easier for Kiwis to know where their food comes from.
The Consumers Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill passed its third reading on Wednesday, after three Green Party MPs took 16 years to get it through Parliament.
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It requires clear origin labelling on our vegetables, frozen fruit, seafood and meat and will apply to foods with one ingredient, unprocessed or minimally processed.
Green Party MP Gareth Hughes told The AM Show there's a lot of reasons consumers may want to know where their food is coming from.
"This is just country of origin food labelling, I think later on we should have a conversation about palm oil [or] nutritional information," he said.
"There's multiple reasons why people want to know which country their food comes from, maybe its labour conditions, animal welfare, to avoid antibiotics, pesticides, GE, there's a host of reasons.
"But it doesn't really matter, I think people deserve the right to know which country their food comes from."
Mr Hughes said New Zealand manufacturers should have their country labelled anyway since the food made here is high quality.
"I think we've got such a great food story to tell, so I think we should be incredibly proud of making sure New Zealand is on the label."
The Food and Grocery Council chief executive Katherine Rich told Newshub there are concerns on how the Bill will apply to some goods.
"Take for example a product like streaky bacon - that bacon might come from five different sources, depending on where the processor has purchased their pork."
But she said it's going to give consumers the power to make decisions about their food.
"I think what consumers will know, if they're empowered and know the rules, is that if something isn't labelled, they will certainly be able to ask a retailer."
Newshub.
