 Growers plea: don't buy if you're not sure it's local By EDITH BEVIN 09jun05 SOUTH Australian orange growers have called on shoppers to boycott the fruit at supermarkets if they cannot be sure it is locally grown. Citrus Growers of SA called for the boycott yesterday after concerns were raised about the major grocery stores mixing locally grown and imported fruit. "If the supermarkets can't tell you which is which, then boycott them and go to one of the many independent greengrocers who can," Citrus Growers SA manager Anne Stepien said. The Citrus Board of South Australia's executive officer, Andrew Green, said the board did its best to ensure supermarkets keep local and imported fruit separate. "We would want to see them giving consumers the option to know what they're buying. It's their right," he said. Coles and Woolworths stores visited by The Advertiser did not have locally grown fruit separated from oranges imported from the United States. Coles and BiLo are labelling oranges as being a mix of locally grown and imported fruit, but Woolworths said it was not and there was no onus on the supermarket to put the origin of the fruit on labels. Ms Stepien said consumers could find local fruit by look and feel. "If they're Australian, they'll look so much fresher and the others will look tired," she said. Coles Myer supermarkets spokeswoman Kate Bowman said it was supportive of local growers. She said this year's unusual weather patterns had affected the orange season and had resulted in an overlap of local and imported fruit supplies. "Under normal circumstances, the imported fruit is finished and off the shelf before the Australian navel crop starts but, this year, with the fickle weather, the crops have overlapped, resulting in the Australian fruit hitting the shelves before the imports have finished," she said. "Therefore, to ensure our customers are best informed in their shopping choices, where there is a mix of both local and imported product, it is our policy to clearly label that produce local and imported." |