Thread: Imported food

Thank you Dick Smith Foods. I don't have to put on my glasses to scour the packaging to know it's all Aussie.

Don't know if its true, but I once read that if it's labelled "From imported and Australian" there can be almost no Aussie produce in it, but if it reads "From Australian and imported" it must be at least 50% Aussie produce. Anyone know if there actually is a difference?

Originally Posted by bee utey

What I hate is the label "Packed in Australia, made from local and imported ingredients", how about a breakdown of this stunning statement??? Manufacturers seem to weasel their way out of identifying the country of origin in any way possible.

And our supposed Government seems to be supporting them by not introducing labeling laws that include source countries and GM products.

At least six canneries and frozen food processors around Brisbane have closed or been taken over, stripped and closed in the last couple of decades. Latest is that Heinz took over Golden Circle and closed the beetroot processing line. 90% of Australia's beetroot is grown around Gatton, 40 miles away. The crop now has to travel 600 miles to Cowra. Can you make sense of that? Cowra's asparagus processing line was closed. Virtually all Australia's processed asparagus now comes from Peru & China, and a little from New Zealand.

Originally Posted by MightyJosh

As for fish I am having one of my seldom Green moments, we are simply overfishing the waters. And while I do not support these stupid bans on recreational fishing. I do think we need to control commercial fishing a lot more then we do. Thing is if the world stopped fishing for just 4 years, there would be enough fish for the current population for another 50. Because if we don't then then stocks will die out and then a whole industry will collapses.

Hi Josh,

From memory there are something like 600 different commercial fisheries in Oz. (by species and / or gear type). Only about 9 are in any sort of 'trouble'.

They are all stringently managed at a Federal or State level, or both, to ensure they are, at the very least, sustainable.

Australians should be very proud of this. Have a look at the FRDC website for more details.

DL

Originally Posted by 350RRC

Only about 9 are in any sort of 'trouble'.

They are all stringently managed at a Federal or State level, or both, to ensure they are, at the very least, sustainable.

Australians should be very proud of this. Have a look at the FRDC website for more details.

DL

Don't believe everything you read. There are so many competing interests and lobby groups that the end result may be more political than in the long term interests of some fisheries.

I used to cart reefer containers from CTAL Botany to Edgell/birdseye loaded with 20tonnes of frozen fish. They were in ice slabs about the size of a slab of beer, some would be broken/shattered, some had whole chooks (feathers and all), snakes, and frogs. Was told that in the parts of Asia/ Indo China/Vietnam they would drain swamps and pick up the dead fish and whatever and freeze them in blocks. The insides of the containers were filthy, mud on the floors and walls (footprints and handprints).
When you consider any food from 3rd world countries, remember this they still use banned chemicals like Agent Orange to clear, DDT and other banned chemicals for insect control and it ends up in the food chain.
Imports don't have strict laws enforcing safe, quality food like Australian growers have to abide by. So next time you buy food for your kids and you buy imports, just think what are they really eating, Buy Australian ONLY, Regards Frank.

one time i had to transport a reefer container full of Indonesian prawns from a transport depot at Salisbury to Markwells Tweed Heads which was a seafood factory of local products, it even at one stage had their own fleet of trawlers.
the container had juice running out of it and after a futile trip to the Tweed i then had to drive back to Hemmant to unload and find out how much damage had been done, 4 boxes all up ended up bad, full day from 7am untill around 6pm

Also used to cart reefers of frozen vegies to Woolworths out somewhere near Regents Park, as they were unloading the packets of Watties mixed vegies (NZ) were being opened and dropped into a hopper then into Woolworths Home Brand (marked Product of Australia). By the time I was unloaded the whole load was transformed from Watties NZ to Woolies home brand, then they would load the lot back into the reefer and I would take it out to Davis Holdings the distrubuter. I now wonder if the vegies were originally from China or elsewhere, bastards, Regards Frank.