Australians are spending big on organic products, from fresh produce to cosmetics, but are they getting what they pay for?
Insiders inside the industry reveal that some products labelled “organic” may be misleading, prompting calls for tighter regulation.
Click the episode below to listen the full chat
Currently, Australia’s $2.3 billion organic industry lacks a legal definition for the term “organic” when it comes to domestically sold goods.
Unlike organic products for export, which must meet strict certification standards, items sold locally can display the label with as little as 2 per cent organic ingredients.
On Tuesday morning’s episode of The Briefing, we talked to Erin Turner, CEO of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, to discuss how the government can better regulate the sector and how it could change what’s on our shelves.
“We’ve seen issues with organic eggs, with organic baby shampoo, where we’ve seen H4C or the regulator take action because there were claims they were organic and the company wasn’t following through on that,” Ms Turner said.
She explained that the lack of clear guidelines undermines trust and leaves consumers vulnerable to “greenwashing,” where companies exaggerate eco-friendly claims.
“We don’t have any specific rules about greenwashing in Australia yet. This reform around organic goes a little bit of the way, but if you go to the supermarket, you go to the local shops, you’ll see a lot of companies making a lot of big claims around broad environmental benefits,” she added.
“As a shopper you shouldn’t have to be a scientist. You shouldn’t have to be an expert in certification systems.”
Last year, the Coalition introduced a bill to address the regulatory gap by applying the export standard domestically.
The proposed legislation, currently under review, could bring more transparency to supermarket shelves.