New Rules for Clubs Selling Seafood Dishes

ADVERTISING

The State and Federal Governments have agreed upon new mandatory requirements for hospitality venues to label the country of origin for seafood on their menus.

These changes are applicable to clubs of all sizes that sell seafood products.

The Australian-Imported-Mixed (AIM) model will require venues that sell seafood to label the product according to its origin. The categories which must be used are:

‘A’ for Australian seafood,
‘I’ for imported seafood and
‘M’ for mixed seafood- if the dish contains multiple seafood items with varying origin (e.g. a Seafood Marinara).

The model will be introduced in 2025, following a transition period and an education campaign. The Federal Government is developing guidance to support hospitality venues to understand and implement these requirements.

Introducing mandatory country of origin labelling was an election commitment for the Albanese Government. The announcement of the new scheme follows several rounds of consultation. Clubs Australia prepared submissions and met with the responsible Minister, Senator Tim Ayres, to represent the views of members.

Particularly, Clubs Australia advocated against a model whereby clubs would need to label the specific country of origin for all seafood. Clubs Australia’s most recent submission can be accessed through the consultation website, here.

Clubs Australia will provide guidance material and more information as it becomes available.

More information on the announcement can be found here.