Thread: Imported food

I think at least part of it is that the drive for profits by the supermarkets is so strong that they might be bypassing local suppliers because they can import it cheaper.

i usually shop at either of the big 2 but the area im in at the moment i have found the local iga shop that thier prices are within a few cents and some are the same price as the big 2 and the products are mostly australian made and thier servo is usually 2 cents cheaper then the big 2's stations and they give a 4 cents discount on top of that

Depends what I'm buying.

General day to day stuff, I'll go as local as I can.

But when it comes to certain specialty items, imports all the way.

I try to buy local when I can and I NEVER shop at the big 2 supermarkets. My local Foodworks is locally owned - the owner actually runs the store, so if you need anything special, or any comments, he is very happy to help out - try and get that from the big 2, and they have a good range of Aussie produce - yeah, they are a little more expensive - only a few cents on most products, and they have heaps of good specials.

I know I buy parts from OS, so in a way I'm a bit of a hypocrite here, but they are only small in comparison to my food bill, and there are many suppliers of parts - While most still shop at the big 2 and want all their food cheap (not that it is), things will get worse in regard to having a selection of Aussie produce to choose from...

I like to buy as much Aussie made as I can, within reason. Fresh fruit and veg are a big one for me, same as frozen veg. 1 million spend in Australian made employes 17 full time Australian jobs. I tend to do a lot of my shopping at ALDI as I find that a lot is Aussie made.
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.

Fisheries World-wide are collapsing.

Most overseas caught fish, are caught in the waters of third countries anyway, the large multinational fishing companies are usually Chinese, Norwegian, South African or Russian owned and buy up small local fishing companies to acquire the quotas and fishing licences. Look what's happened in Chile and Peru, the local industry is collapsing while Chinese owned trawlers using local licences scour their seas and process the catch on large factory ships off shore.

At least with Australian caught fish, the trawlers are operating within quotas determined by Aust. Fisheries as sustainable. But only time will tell if that is true.

Made in New Zealand
Food labeling laws in NZ allow goods that have been imported, and repackages in NZ to wear this tag. Seems the Chinese producers have discovered this and are exploiting the system for goods they want to see on the Aussie market.
BIG concerns as although they promise the opposite, so many Chinese business enterprises have been caught out on QA. (Just recent report on collapse of RAAF hanger in Canberra blamed on dodgy bolts (sold as complying to Aussie Standars xyz etc)
We are now VERY wary of imported food, and I am sorry to say NZ foods too!

I totally detest imported foods of a kind that we produce here in quantity/ quality, lots of crap now being canned in china and its increasing all the time.
I'm not against goods produced in China in general but i dont trust their quality control when it comes to food stuffs and their high levels of pollution dont help.