Nationals MP David Littleproud says that if elected the Coalition will match a Labor budget measure to commit $1.5 million towards enforcing clearer advertising of fake meat products.
Littleproud claimed Australians are "being tricked into buying fake meat products" that are actually plant-based, but research indicates most Australians do not struggle to identify plant-based meat substitutes.
A Senate inquiry in 2022 recommended plant-based food products should not use words like "beef" and "chicken", nor use images of animals on packaging.
Labor promised to overhaul labelling legislation and committed money towards this initiative in the 2024-2025 budget.
So what is the confusion around plant-based products and are Australians really being tricked?
Are Australians confused by fake meat?
Littleproud said his party would stop "meat products fooling families".
A 2022 study by the University of Technology Sydney found only 4 per cent of Australians said they had inadvertently purchased meat-free products when instead wanting to buy meat products.
Research shows Australians can largely tell the difference between meat and meat-free products. Source: AAP / AP
Forty-one per cent of respondents said they bought a what they thought was a plant-based product only to later discover it contained animal ingredients.
Livestock SA chair Gillian Fennell said meat producers have concerns about images of animals being used to promote non-animal products.
"We are obviously very keen to ensure that when something is labelled a meat, it is actually a protein meat because we spend a lot of time, energy, and often our own money investing in marketing and promoting the health benefits of meat," she said.
"I have accidentally bought plant-based things. You are in a rush. You're not paying attention, you're just looking at the imagery. But if that's not the product you're looking for, you will only make that mistake once."
What is being promised this election?
Amid the federal budget papers handed down last month was a government commitment to research whether consumers are being misled on plant-based products.
The Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries said it will also work with the Red Meat Advisory Council and the Alternative Protein Council, to facilitate the development of strengthened industry guidelines.
Littleproud accused Labor of failing to act on meat-alternative labelling.
"In a cost-of-living crisis, lack of clarity under current labelling laws means families have been tricked into thinking they are buying 'cheap' meat products such as beef or chicken, when in reality they are plant-based," he said in a statement on Thursday.
"Labor promised to support meat and plant industries and improve regulations but has completely dropped the ball."
What do farmers want to see?
Fennell said livestock producers object to labels like "lamb, pork, chicken and duck" being used on plant-based products.
"We have an objection to large corporations taking advantage of our good reputation and using it to market a product as a meat — if their product is so great, then it should be able to stand on its own merits and not be a copy of ours."
But she said the organisation supports farmers involved in fake meat supply chains.
"We don't want to disadvantage those grain growers who might be producing grains and those sorts of things that do go into some of the manufactured meat products."
Fennell said the Australian agriculture industry should be more important to politicians than ever amid tariffs being placed on Australian exports.
