Most of us probably think Australias’s pure food laws are there to protect uns against unhealthful and unsafe foods. Not so, according to Professor Peter Swan. He was surprised to discover that “food laws are almost entirely about the avoidance of fraud and deception. Health and safety hardly come into it at all”.
Food laws are generally favoured by consumer protectionists, who seem to believe that ‘experts’ are the only ones qualified to tell us what we should and shouldn’t eat. The ordinary consumer, who understands better than anyone his own preferences and his own pocketbook, is not allowed to make his own choice of quality and price but must accept what is “approved” for him by technocrats in white jackets.
Professor Swan has no quarrel with laws that prohibit poisonous or otherwise harmful substances. But he considers that our present food laws are overly prescriptive and proscriptive, and so unduly limit the consumer’s freedom of choice ans the manufacturer’s ability to offer innovative foods. He believes that consumers are discerning and intelligent. When provided with the right information, they are the only ones truly qualified to choose the foods that best suit their own needs and preferences.
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