Labelling has become a confusing element of the food sector.
The situation has been made confusing by legislators not trusting science, a public antsy over anything they don’t fully understand, and companies caught trying to appease everyone to ensure market share.
We have seen the confusion grow as genetically modified crops have come to market, and the niche market of consumers who believe organic food is their best choice to put on the family dinner table.
Now the industry should always keep the adage of the customer always being right, but you have to be aware, at least as legislators, that consumers are often making choices based in-large part on emotion.
So the question becomes how much labelling should consumers expect on a product in the grocery store?
Most consumers, I would suggest read such labels with a cursory glance, if at all.
Most consumers will be far more concerned with the price sticker, as they look to balance good food for the table with budgets stretched to the max.
Still, we do need labelling, labels which provide data which has been confirmed by good science, and protected by the diligence if publicly funded watchdogs such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in our country.
On a side note food safety, including labelling requirements, clearly needs to be a federal responsibility. It would make no sense to have one set of requirements in Alberta, and another in Nova Scotia.
That is however the reality in the United States where the state of Vermont legislated GM labelling requirements specific to that state.
Can you imagine the issues which could arise in terms of marketing of even a dozen states legislated differing requirements?
But back to the basic question, what should consumers reasonably expect?
The short answer is that everything in the store follows established safety standards and is safe for consumers.
After that labelling is largely to ensure food safety for consumers with specific needs, peanut allergies coming to mind, and secondly to let consumers make choices based on personal preferences.
The second area of labelling of course is the one which could lead to every package having a book attached to it.
We have those seeking GM labelling, although science would suggest there is no difference.
Others want country of origin labelling as a way to support farmers in their own country, although where is the country of origin of bread baked in the US, with what imported from Australia, using canola oil for Canada etc?
Then there is religious labelling, whether as an example something is kosher, and the chapters in the labelling book grows ever longer.
Information is the base of knowledge, and knowledge allows for better decisions, but at the root of it all is the need to trust in the science and system behind our food, for without that trust buying groceries suddenly becomes a very scary undertaking, labels, or not.
Calvin Daniels is Editor with Yorkton This Week.
