June 10, 2010

Primo Smallgoods' meat processing plant, Australia's major producer of small goods, has been fined for mislabelling a large quantity of imported bacon products as "Product of Australia."

On Wednesday, Downing Centre Court Magistrate Carolyn Barkell handed down a fine of US$237,575 to Primo for mislabelling Danish and Canadian bacon products as Australian and ordered it to pay costs of US$200,000.

New South Wales Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan said irrespective of the origin of the meat, consumers should get what they pay for.

"There is no suggestion there was anything wrong with the product in terms of health. This US$237,000 fine represents a very welcome decision by a court to enforce the right that New South Wales consumers have to know that when something is labelled as a product of Australia it is a product of Australia," Mr Whan told reporters.

Primo had pleaded guilty to 63 charges under the NSW Food Act relating to the packaging and labelling of its meat. The NSW Food Authority, which investigated the case for more than a year, estimated more than 100 tonnes of product was improperly labelled.

"I don't have the exact figure, but I think it was over 100 tonnes of product," enforcement manager Christine Tumney told journalists. This estimate was rejected by Primo, which said the amount of product involved did not reach one tonne. "This amount is the highest fine that we've had in our history of prosecutions," Tumney said.

The company's abattoir in Port Wakefield, South Australia, processes more than 10,000 pigs a week for domestic and overseas markets.