New stamp helps shoppers buy home grown amanda swinburn
Australian grown products can now be licensed and stamped with a mark that recognises them as 100% Australian produced, under a new initiative by not-for-profit organisation Australian HomeGrown.
Launched in October 2004 with $4m in Federal Government support over two years, the HomeGrown initiative will see foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, seafood, sugar, dairy and processed foods marked with the HomeGrown logo. Already the campaign has attracted 56 letters of support from industry organisations.
For a product to be labelled with the new logo, it must be 100% Australian produced and locally grown, making it different from the Australian Made and Owned label.
Australian HomeGrown executive director Marcus Elgin said research had shown labelling of fresh Australian produce would provide consumers with an incentive to buy.
“The AHG campaign will enable Australian food producers to differentiate their product in the marketplace and gain a competitive edge over non-labelled produce,” Elgin said.
Australian Pork was the initial proponent of the Australian HomeGrown initiative after it embarked on a search for a logo to help identify Australian pork products in the marketplace.
APL chief executive officer John Cook said: “HomeGrown is one of the most important things to happen in Australia for a very long time. It will make a massive contribution to Australian agriculture.”
