Labeling and Packaging issues in Australia Assignment Sample

Introduction:

Labelling and packaging has been in news lately in Australia. The reason behind is the import of various goods at substantial lower rate but with much lower quality are sold at regular prices in Australia. This has attracted the concerns of consumers and government agencies who are now preparing to pen down a new plan of action through which such indecent business activities for earning huge profits could be halted.

Labelling and packaging issues on the rise:

It is really hard to figure out, that how many of the goods that we buy from the grocery stores have origin in Australia. Actually the priority over food material manufactured in Australia is due to the legal implications on permitted use of pesticides and chemicals. However much of the food sold in grocery stores are imported from such countries where they have hardly any control or permitting guidelines or laws to make the food product healthier to consume.  Therefore it really becomes important to find out the source country of origin of different food material especially in the Grocery. The identification of this fact could help the consumer apply priority over purchase by making safe food material as top priority to be purchased. The legislations till year 2015 actually wanted to convey the customers about the country of origin using the confusing terms such as “Made in Australia”, “Product of Australia” and others. These confusing directions did not helped the buyer decision  making (Clemons, 2015).

The issue of packaging and labeling actually arose when it was discovered that many of the businesses were importing goods and other food material from China and other countries. These products were sold at same prices as the goods that were produced in Australia. Hence the cost effectiveness was applied to earn huge profits but at the compromise of quality. It was found that the fruits, vegetable, canned juices and various other products were manufactured after mixing the Australian output with Chinese output to gain cost advantage. This led to the change in taste and depletion of quality of various goods manufactured in Australia due to the adulteration made in the quality of food material by mixing it with Chinese outputs. The result was that the consumers stood against such activities of the companies. The survey made in 2012 confirmed that 84% of the respondents wanted that their food material should consists of the vital information about the country of origin. The issue of mixing and the extent of Australian produce was required to be displayed on every product so that the customers could make the right choice of purchase. Also the companies applying such business practices should be banned and brought to justice as they were compromising the health of the nationals for earning profits (Cartwright & Clemons, 2015).

However in year 2016 on April 1st, new legislations were brought in that applied a new food labeling scheme. Also the new consumer regulator namely ACCC has been deployed for the correct application of the new legislations to safeguard the interest of consumers in Australia. The new legislations requires the packaging system to introduce triangle logo and display of a bar chart that clearly states the proportion of goods or food material made in Australia. To apply the system perfectly the government bodies have fueled the new scheme with $4.2 million in additional funding so that ACCC could apply the new laws and review various products at regular intervals for next five years. Now since the new regulations in application the labels are required to distinguish between the goods that are made in Australia or imported from Australia. The level of mixing has also become important to be distinguished so that the people could know that how much amount of imported goods are used in the manufacturing. Therefore the content and proportion of imported goods in the real Australian goods is required to be reported as per the new laws. Also the issue of mixing and the extent of Australian produce was required to be displayed on every product so that the customers could make the right choice of purchase. Also the companies applying such business practices should be banned and brought to justice as they were compromising the health of the nationals for earning profits  (Clemons, 2016).

Not only at the international levels but also at the domestic levels the fight against inappropriate packaging has been initiated. The federal government in year 2015 won a case against the tobacco giant Philip Morris Asia. The company was charged for misusing the Australian tobacco plain-packaing law. This led the Singapore based company to accept changes in packaging where it should be clearly written that smoking causes lung cancer. The package will therefore consist of an image which will depict the affected lungs by cancer to help the cigarette smokers to think twice before its consumption. Hence the efforts are made at the local levels to adhere safe and healthy consumable products to the public in Australia. It is rather made mandatory to all the organizations to display ingredients, country source and level of various contents in particular quantity to be recognized and displayed clearly on each product. The customers are also advised methods of identifying the important facts sticked on the products before purchase. This way they could make wise decision on purchase by comparing quality and country source than giving importance to cost factors only (Hutchens, 2015).

In yet another effort, the packaging and labeling are required to display the ingredients along with their percentage presence in a particular product. For instance, the mango yogurt is now required to be labeled with the amount of contents of yogurt along with the particular amount of sugar contents and other materials. This attempt has been made to make the customer aware of the use of lactose in the milk to make yoghurt. This way the consumer is entitled to know every single and minute thing present in a product so that the decision of purchase could be made as wisely as possible. The common public will therefore be able to identify if the product is made with natural ingredients or extra flavors are added to it to make it more tastier but unhealthy. To appreciate the development of the packaging and labeling concept in the new legislative way, the parliament members and social activists has come ahead including various organization.  The reason behind is the import of various goods at substantial lower rate but with much lower quality are sold at regular prices in Australia. This has attracted the concerns of consumers and government agencies who are now preparing to pen down a new plan of action through which such indecent business activities for earning huge profits could be halted.

Conclusion:

The concerns of consumers and government agencies are fair and worth noticing. Therefore the action has been taken by the social activists and different parliamentary members in the interest of the consumers by preparing to pen down a new plan of action through which such indecent business activities for earning huge profits could be halted. Efforts are made to figure out, that how many of the goods that we buy from the grocery stores, malls, retail stores and other shopping places have origin in Australia. The reason is to develop an understanding of the source of manufacture which have no legal implications on permitted use of pesticides and chemicals.  Therefore the identification of this fact could help the consumer apply priority over purchase by making safe food material as top priority to be purchased. The issue of packaging and labeling actually arose when it was discovered that many of the businesses were importing goods and other food material from China and other countries. These products were sold at same prices as the goods that were produced in Australia. Hence the cost effectiveness was applied to earn huge profits but at the compromise of quality.