PIES "Made in Australia" with meat from Mexico.
This was the message from an unlikely alliance of senators who have joined forces to attack Australia’s weak labeling laws.Greens Senator Christine Milne, Nationals Senator Fiona Nash, Liberal Bill Heffernan and independent Nick Xenophon are outraged at the Government’s decision to relax beef import rules to allow meat from countries with recorded incidents of mad cow disease.
"As of March 1, Australians could be eating a meat pie labeled `Made in Australia’ which contains 100 per cent beef from a mad cow disease-affected country," Senator Xenophon said.
Senator Nash attacked the lack of an import risk assessment on the importation of beef from BSE-affected countries while senator Milne said a "precautionary approach" should be adopted.
Senator Heffernan repeatedly called for the Cattle Council of Australia, which supported the relaxation of the beef import rules, to be sacked.
Returns to cattle farmers were the lowest in real terms they had been in 40 years, he said.
Senator Heffernan also argued a lack of traceability in the US - where farmers recently abandoned new traceability measures - meant beef arriving in Australia from the US could actually have come into America from Mexico.
