On 7 December 2012, the Australian and New Zealand ministers responsible for the regulation of food agreed to enact new laws requiring the country of origin to be displayed on unpackaged beef, lamb and poultry to address consumer interest in this information. A business will be able to comply with the new requirements by displaying a single sign for Australian products while imported product will be specifically labelled with the country of origin. Some consumers may benefit from these new arrangements where they want to know the source of their meat, however the benefits are not expected to be large given most imported meat is currently labelled. The cost to business from this requirement is also expected to be low, given high levels of voluntary compliance and the low cost of labelling. The Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) prepared by Food Standards Australia New Zealand recommended making no change to current arrangements, primarily due to the high levels of voluntary compliance with the proposed standard and the very low quantities of beef, lamb and poultry that are imported into Australia. The RIS was assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.
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