Australia cautions India over processed food exports

One of the key reasons for rejections has been the new food labeling law and policy in Australia

Australia has said exports of processed food from India have violated its norms. This comes barely six months after Russia lifted a ban on the import of rice and peanut from India. An advisory issued and circulated by Australia’s department of agriculture, through the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), said Indian exporters of processed food, especially milk products, hadn't been following the relevant imports regulation into Australia. It added it had detected cases violating such regulations.

For April-November 2013-14, India’s food exports to Australia fell 17 per cent in value terms (from Rs 556 crore to Rs 458 crore) and 12 per cent in volume (from 57,877 tonnes to 51,077 tonnes), compared to the year-ago period, according to data from Apeda. During April-November 2012, India exported 460 tonnes of dairy products to Australia; during the corresponding period last year, this fell to 327 tonnes.

One key reason for export rejections by Australia was its new food labelling policy. In 2011, the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council and the Council of Australian Governments commissioned an independent review of the Food Labelling Law and Policy. The review made 61 recommendations covering a wide range of issues.

"Australia has upgraded its import norms for food products and, therefore, most rejections are on account of issues such as packaging," said P C Sunish, partner, Arul Appalam Depot, a processed food exporter to Australia