Australia requires restaurants to show the country of origin of seafood on their menus

Restaurants, cafes and takeaways across Australia will soon have to label their menus with the provenance of seafood to help consumers make the right buying decisions, under new requirements.

Australia has required seafood to be labelled with the country of origin since 2018. The latest directive extends that requirement to the food service sector.

"What we want to see is recognisable Australian seafood on the menu, it's as simple as that," said Veronica Papacosta, CEO of the Australian Seafood Industry.

For imported seafood, a simple "i" is needed to indicate that it is imported, but the menu has a footnote that says "I" means imported, she said.

"Overwhelmingly, we hear that consumers struggle to support the industry when eating out because they simply can't tell which seafood is Australian. Australia imports 66 per cent of its seafood consumption, so clearly providing such information to consumers in terms of food services is critical to allowing them to maintain transparency and choice in their supply chain, "she said.

On Monday, the Australian government allocated 1.6 million Australian dollars (US $1 million) for the labeling directive for the period 2022-23.

The country produces just 2 per cent of the world's farmed Atlantic salmon harvest. About 70 percent of its production, or about $412 million, is consumed locally.