The Western Australian Government has started a strong marketing campaign to encourage people to buy local produce. The ‘Buy West – Eat Best’ campaign will cost $1 million over three years and is intended to help consumers identify and buy locally grown food.
Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance said the program helped consumers to identify WA products through the use of a unique green logo, providing assurance that they were supporting the local food industry.
“The Buy West, Eat Best program is a great opportunity for local food businesses to promote their products and meet consumer demand for clearly labelled WA produce,” Chance said.
“Since the launch of the program to the food industry in November 2007, more than 40 local food businesses and retailers have signed up, with more expressing interest on a daily basis. The Minister said food businesses and producers who were using the Buy West, Eat Best logo had to meet specific local content, safety, quality and registration criteria.
“All fresh foods must have been ‘grown, farmed or fished’ in WA,” he said.
“Processed foods must have all main ingredients grown, farmed or fished in WA, and the goods must have been processed in this State.
“The Buy West, Eat Best program is being managed and monitored for compliance by the Department of Agriculture and Food.
“This will include compliance checks of businesses and the establishment of a website, email and free consumer hotline, so the public can have any queries addressed or report any concerns.”
Food Industry Association chairman David Lock said the food industry was very supportive of the Buy West, Eat Best program.
“The program encourages consumers to make informed choices about purchasing quality local products which support the local food industry and this is important for its future growth and sustainability,” Lock said.
“The Food Industry Association encourages all eligible WA food businesses to join the program.”
Further information on the criteria of the program, the marketing support and how to register is available from
http://www.buywesteatbest.wa.gov.au
