Latest / Best of Business / Brent Kleiss: NZPork chief executive on the Government's refusal to make changes around labelling pork

Transcript

Brent Kleiss: NZPork chief executive on the Government's refusal to make changes around labelling pork · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
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  Speaker 2: So the government is refusing to make any law changes
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  Speaker 2: surrounding pork branding, but acknowledges some labels may be misleading.
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  Speaker 2: It follows the pork industry calling for country of origin.
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  Speaker 2: Information to be clearer is some shoppers think they're buying
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand bacon or ham, but it's not. To discuss more,
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  Speaker 2: we're joined by New Zealand Pork Chief Executive Brent Clice. G'day, Brent.
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  Speaker 3: Hi, how are you doing?
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  Speaker 1: Very good, thanks.
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  Speaker 4: Now, under the current law, how prominent does country of
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  Speaker 4: origin information have to be and how would you like
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  Speaker 4: this changed?
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  Speaker 3: So at the moment, it can appear on the back
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  Speaker 3: of packets of bacon and ham in very small lettering.
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  Speaker 3: It can list a whole long list of countries. Whilst
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  Speaker 3: on the front, you can have all sorts of claims
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  Speaker 3: about how New Zealand your product is around, you know,
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  Speaker 3: made here or New Zealand's favourite and that sort of thing.
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  Speaker 3: So what we'd really like to see is a bit
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  Speaker 3: of a change to make it much easier to for
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  Speaker 3: consumers to know where the bacon and ham that they're
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  Speaker 3: purchasing actually originates.
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  Speaker 4: So a package can comply with the technical country of
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  Speaker 4: origin regulations, but still breach the Fair Trading Act because
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  Speaker 4: the overall branding, I guess, gives a misleading representation?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I don't know if it breaches the Act in
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  Speaker 3: that the information's available, but it's small and on the back.
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  Speaker 3: I think the issue is that it's unclear and it
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  Speaker 3: allows this sort of disguising of the origin that happens.
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  Speaker 3: So if you're a consumer and you're trying to support
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  Speaker 3: particular standards of production or particular countries and their industries
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  Speaker 3: and the people and the communities that they provide for,
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  Speaker 3: you don't have the ability to actually decipher where it
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  Speaker 3: is that your money ends up.
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  Speaker 4: Is the problem that you've got pigs that are born
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  Speaker 4: and raised in New Zealand and ones that are overseas,
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  Speaker 4: but then you've got some products that are being processed
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  Speaker 4: in New Zealand from overseas meat?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so a lot of people think that, like the
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  Speaker 3: other meat sectors, we export a lot of our pork.
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  Speaker 3: It's not the case. 100% of New Zealand production, or
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  Speaker 3: very close to it, stays in New Zealand. It's actually 60%
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  Speaker 3: of pork consumed in New Zealand is imported, and 85%
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  Speaker 3: of that goes into bacon and ham. So what happens
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  Speaker 3: is you get frozen carcass come in, and it gets
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  Speaker 3: processed here, and then they're able to market it as
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  Speaker 3: made in New Zealand.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: So the problem here, it seems to me, Brent, is
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  Speaker 2: that you get imported pork, but on the front of
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  Speaker 2: the labelling, it says things like proudly Kiwi-owned, or New
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  Speaker 2: Zealand proud, or the best of New Zealand. And that,
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  Speaker 2: to most people, would be quite confusing, right? Because you
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  Speaker 2: read that on the front of the label and you
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  Speaker 2: think this is Kiwi through and through. But that's how
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  Speaker 2: they get around it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. And we've got research that shows that consumers
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  Speaker 3: are confused by this scenario. And many of the callers
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  Speaker 3: that we get just to our office from the general
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  Speaker 3: public complain that they're unable to find New Zealand bacon.
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  Speaker 3: I went into Pack and Save Hornby last week, and
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  Speaker 3: there is not a single packet of bacon in that
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  Speaker 3: place that is locally sourced. and the labelling would have
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  Speaker 3: you believe otherwise.
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  Speaker 4: What are the most significant animal welfare differences between New
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  Speaker 4: Zealand pig farming and some of the other countries that
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  Speaker 4: we're importing pork from?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so overseas they still use gestation stools. We haven't
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  Speaker 3: used them here for around 10 years. They practise castration
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  Speaker 3: on their male pigs. We don't do that here unless
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  Speaker 3: it's for a medical reason and it's done with pain relief.
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  Speaker 3: That's not the case overseas. and many of the requirements
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  Speaker 3: around space and, um, farrowing, um, when, when sows give
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  Speaker 3: birth to piglets, um, New Zealand leads the world or
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  Speaker 3: is very close to leading the world in those scenarios. So, um,
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  Speaker 3: you know, and it's not just welfare, it's the environmental
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  Speaker 3: standards that we produce under and it's the employment standards
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  Speaker 3: that we produce under. So, um, yeah.
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  Speaker 4: So does that, that adds a significant cost to the,
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  Speaker 4: you know, to the New Zealand farmer?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. Um, We're proud of the way we farm
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  Speaker 3: here in New Zealand. We do a fantastic job and
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  Speaker 3: we're proud of the products we produce. What we're asking
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  Speaker 3: for is the ability for a consumer to be able
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  Speaker 3: to support that and make that choice without being, I guess,
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  Speaker 3: tricked into another scenario.
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  Speaker 4: So would you want not only, I guess, something that
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  Speaker 4: said pork raised in New Zealand, would you also want
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  Speaker 4: the other countries to be. So if it's from, say,
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  Speaker 4: I don't know, Canada or something, pork raised in Canada.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, ideally, something where, and there's many scenarios you
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  Speaker 3: could work through, but at a very basic level, a
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  Speaker 3: single country of origin that needs to be more prominently
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  Speaker 3: displayed on the pack would go a long way.
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  Speaker 4: And if the minister accepts that branding as it is
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  Speaker 4: now can give the wrong impression that it was raised
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  Speaker 4: New Zealand, then what is the pushback on the change?
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  Speaker 4: Because it doesn't seem like it would be that bigger
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  Speaker 4: of a deal to just, you know, enforce.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, isn't it bizarre? There's been two separate government processes,
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  Speaker 3: one through the Regulations Review Committee and now through the
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  Speaker 3: Ministry for Regulation that have recommended this gets looked at.
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  Speaker 3: And the Minister has decided and told us that there's
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  Speaker 3: not enough evidence as to the scale of the problem
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  Speaker 3: You know, when 90% or 85% plus is imported bacon
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  Speaker 3: and ham presented in this way, I just can't quite
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  Speaker 3: comprehend how they've come to that conclusion other than they
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  Speaker 3: just can't be bothered dealing with it.
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  Speaker 2: Someone's just texted through, Brendan, says, go and buy for
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  Speaker 2: your local butcher. You can't go wrong. That's a win-win.
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  Speaker 2: Is that primarily the case, that if you sidestep the
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  Speaker 2: supermarkets and go to a local butcher, highly likely it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be NZ pork?
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  Speaker 3: It's more likely. I'd say that for fresh pork, for
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  Speaker 3: your fresh product when you're cooking it at home, and mints,
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  Speaker 3: you are almost certain to be getting New Zealand pork.
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  Speaker 3: Consumers don't need to be worried there. When it comes
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  Speaker 3: to bacon and ham, anything that comes in a package
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  Speaker 3: or is in your retail deli sections at your supermarket,
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  Speaker 3: I'd start asking questions and look carefully at the labelling.
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  Speaker 3: But yes, you're right, your independent butchers, they do a
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  Speaker 3: much better job of supporting the New Zealand producer.
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  Speaker 4: And under current rules, as it lies right now, if
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  Speaker 4: people want to know that their pig is born and
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  Speaker 4: raised in New Zealand, what should customers look for to
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  Speaker 4: make sure, you know, past the whatever tricky branding? How
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  Speaker 4: can they be sure?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so a lot of the New Zealand brands make
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  Speaker 3: it very clear they're from New Zealand. They're just hard
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  Speaker 3: to find. Failing that, we've got 100% New Zealand pork, 100%
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  Speaker 3: New Zealand bacon or ham stickers that brand owners can
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  Speaker 3: apply to their products. Otherwise, you do need to turn
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  Speaker 3: your packet over and look very carefully at the wording
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  Speaker 3: at the back. If it doesn't say pork sourced from
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  Speaker 3: pigs raised in New Zealand, then you can be pretty
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  Speaker 3: certain that it's imported.
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  Speaker 2: Brent, really appreciate your time. Best of luck with pushing
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  Speaker 2: the Minister on this. As you can imagine, we're getting
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  Speaker 2: a lot of texts coming through in support, but really
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  Speaker 2: appreciate you taking the time out to have a chat.
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  Speaker 3: I appreciate you too, guys. Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 2: That is Brent Clice, Chief Executive of New Zealand Pork.
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