The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has called for strong support for domestic manufacturing to safeguard Australia’s food resilience.
The AFGC lodged its formal submission to the Federal Government’s development of a National Food Security Strategy, with Colm Maguire, CEO of the AFGC, commending Julie Collins, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, for leading the initiative.
“Australia has a unique opportunity to act now to build resilience into our food system. Importantly this relies heavily on supporting the domestic manufacturing sector and ensuring efficient, reliable supply chains.”
Maguire said the ability to process and manufacture food onshore is critical to national resilience.
“The ability to process and manufacture food onshore, transforming raw produce into consumer-ready goods, is essential to national food resilience.
“A strategy that fails to support this capability risks weakening Australia’s ability to respond to future shocks.”
In its submission, the AFGC has called for the government to map vulnerabilities across domestic and international supply chains, including risks linked to critical imported inputs such as packaging and ingredients.
“Food security is national security,” Maguire said. “A resilient and efficient food supply chain, underpinned by strong local manufacturing, must be at the heart of this strategy.”
The AFGC said it looks forward to continued collaboration with government, industry and the wider community as the strategy develops.
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