the nsw farmers association has welcomed the federal government&rsquos announcement that changes to labelling laws will be introduced to give better information about where a food item comes from.the mooted change comes in the wake of a hepatitis a outbreak last month, with a dubbo woman identifying herself as one of the 21 cases of the disease in australia that has been linked to imported frozen berries.federal industry minister ian macfarlane and agriculture minister barnaby joyce have been asked to prepare a submission on countryoforigin foodlabelling laws for cabinet by the end of march.the government is looking at a simple graphic that clearly indicates the percentage of australian and imported content of packaged food.nsw farmers horticulture chairman and apple grower peter darley said the announcement was important for australian families and farmers.&ldquobetter labelling laws are needed so that shoppers are able to know that the food they buy their families comes from a source they can trust &ndash australian farmers,&rdquo mr darley said.&ldquounder the present system this is something that consumers cannot be sure of.&ldquofood packaging is all too often labelled with the uninformative &lsquomade from local and imported ingredients&rsquo giving them no real guidance on where the food actually came from.&rdquomr darley, who is a producer from orange, commended mr joyce&rsquos commitment to ensure the government&rsquos reforms would be based on the strong message from the australian public for clear and simple labelling.&ldquoin today&rsquos society we are all time poor,&rdquo he said.&ldquothe government needs to focus on ensuring that with a simple look someone can know that what they are buying has been grown in australia.&rdquothe association is also calling for rules that exclude food imported from new zealand from australia&rsquos food standards to be reconsidered.&ldquopresently food that&rsquos imported from new zealand doesn&rsquot need to meet australia&rsquos labelling laws nor any safety requirements that are placed on australian produced food,&rdquo mr darley said.&ldquothese exemptions not only cover food grown in new zealand, but also food from other countries that is imported to australia via new zealand.&rdquoas they made the announcement, mr macfarlane admitted customers may have to pay more as a result of the changes, but mr joyce expressed doubt that would be the case.what was now already on the package could be simply replaced, he argued.woolworths, the country&rsquos biggest food retailer, has said it is ready to work with the government to improve foodlabelling laws, but australian retailers association executive director russell zimmerman said the proposed changes were unclear and &ldquoprobably mean more red tape&rdquo.the association&rsquos members include supermarkets, bakers delight bakery and the coffee club.while the source of the hepatitis a virus is still not confirmed, the only common exposure for all of the cases is the consumption of the frozen mixed berries. 
