LEAVE eating quality and beef grading up to the industry and out of the new truth in labelling laws.
That's the message from Australia's peak red meat and livestock advisory body.
The Red Meat Advisory Council has called for the new Food Amendment (Beef Labelling) Bill 2009 - passed unanimously through NSW Parliament late last year - not to include beef grading for eating quality.
The two issues - truth in labelling and whether or not all beef should be graded and labelled for eating quality - shouldn't be confused, the council's beef labelling committee chairman, Terry Nolan, said.
"In much of the public debate, the two issues have been jumbled together, leading to confusion," Mr Nolan said.
Under the new Bill, beef from an eight-toothed animal if labelled "budget" by the retailer, must also carry the words "low quality" or "low grade".
Deciding on the appropriate eating grades was an industry responsibility, not a government one, Mr Nolan said.
"Support for such a law beggars belief," he said. "We would have to be the only industry in the world that will be legally required to market our product as being of low quality.
"(The) Government's role in quality grading of any product should remain only with ensuring labels are true."
Cattle Council of Australia president Greg Brown said high levels of consumer-satisfaction contradicted "dire assumptions about beef labelling being put forward by some industry participants in NSW".
Proponents of the move, which include a prominent NSW beef processor, argue that introducing a "low quality" label for some beef will shift price-conscious domestic shoppers to pay more for higher-quality product. "This is clearly an absurd suggestion," Mr Brown said.
"The only winners from such a move would be our competitors, as price-conscious consumers choose cheaper proteins, such as chicken and pork, which won't carry labels that will scare them off."
Both Mr Nolan and Mr Brown said Meat Standards Australia was the only reliable system for grading cuts of beef and should remain central to any industry driven grading system.
The Food Amendment (Beef Labelling) Bill 2009 was introduced as a Private Member's Bill by Member for Northern Tablelands, Richard Torbay.
At the time, Mr Torbay said the Bill was designed to create a clearer understanding of what consumers were buying and that "inconsistent eating quality" was the "single greatest factor undermining the marketability of beef in Australia".
