Food Labelling...

I was doing my weekly shop at my regular supermarket on the weekend.

I needed garlic so headed over to the "fresh" produce to grab a bulb or two. There were two types on display.

The first were loose bulbs; the ones with a purple tinge to them. I recognised them to be the variety that are normally imported from Mexico. I've bought this variety before; it's a great product with an awesome flavour and aroma. I double checked the signage for the loose bulbs, and yes, it was indeed a product of Mexico.

But on this day I really wanted Australian garlic. I much prefer to choose Australian produce any day of the week over anything else. Mind you, I've purchased produce that's been imported, but I am quite selective over which country's produce I'll buy.

Anyway...the other choice was a pre-packaged variety. You know the ones, as white as snow and perfectly formed, usually slightly smaller bulbs, and about 5 or 6 bulbs to a pack.

I usually don't buy the white as snow garlic; firstly, it's bleached or sprayed or treated in some way to get that white look. Someone just decided one day that garlic should be completely white otherwise it won't be appealing! And secondly, it just doesn't have the same punchiness that proper garlic has, and that I love.

But, I checked the sign and it said product of Australia. Oh good! I picked it up and was about to throw it in the trolley when I noticed the company name on the tag; which was a distinctly non-Australian sounding company name. So I proceeded to inspect the tag quite closely.

I couldn't find anywhere any reference to the country of origin of this garlic until I pulled the tag at the point where it's stitched to the bag, and in the tiniest, most obsure writing, it says "Product of China".

Don't you just love the way these companies try their hardest to make this information almost impossible to find??? Bastards!

GRRRR!

I double checked the sign again to make sure that I was reading the signage correctly. I checked the other signs around the area to make sure there weren't any other garlic signs that I was missing. Nope. I was definately reading the correct sign.

Hmmm...what to do?

I looked around to see if there were any staff members floating around, but nope. So, I put the garlic back and continued my shopping.

I eventually came across a staff member and politely pointed out the error they'd made in labelling the garlic, and this woman just looked at me with this blank look on her face as if to say "are you serious?". I swear, her look was priceless!

Yes, luv, I am serious!

"You know", I said, "there are serious consequences for misleading labels on food produce. I suggest you go to a manager right now and get it rectified".

And off she went.

I overheard her chatting with her superior, whom I'm sure really doesn't have any authority anyway, and he said "oh really...it normally is a product of Australia".

So, they don't even bloody double check these things before they put the produce on display. And it makes me wonder what else has been mislabelled as a product of Australia when it really isn't.

The scary thing is, we wouldn't have the foggiest idea either way!

I think from now on I'll go to the markets instead. I just don't trust any of these large supermarkets any more - and it wasn't even Coles or Woolworths (both of which I refuse to shop at unless there is absolutely no avoiding it).