Australia and New Zealand Weigh Mandatory Labels That Could Hit Spanish Olive Oil
Australia and New Zealand are moving to make the Health Star Rating mandatory for packaged foods, a change Spanish producers and the EU fear will penalise olive oil and table olives. Australia is the seventh-largest buyer of Spanish olive oil, taking 72% of its imports from Spain in 2024-2025. A Greek MEP has asked the European Commission whether the measure breaches WTO rules.
Australia and New Zealand weigh mandatory food labels that could hit Spanish olive oil
A labelling reform under study in Australia and New Zealand could become the next obstacle for Spanish olive oil and table olives, according to HuffPost España. Regulators in both countries are moving to make the Health Star Rating (HSR) system compulsory for packaged food, a change that producers and the European Union fear would penalise a product at the centre of the Mediterranean diet.
A strategic and fast-growing market
The stakes are high because Australia is the seventh-largest importer of Spanish olive oil. Spain supplied 72% of the olive oil the country bought in the 2024-2025 campaign, a market where demand keeps climbing. Australian consumption of extra virgin olive oil grew 46% year on year in that season, according to the International Olive Council. HuffPost España notes the same labelling change would also apply in New Zealand.
The Health Star Rating proposal
The Health Star Rating has existed since 2014 but has always been voluntary. This year the food ministers of both countries agreed to begin the process of making it mandatory. The binational food regulator for Australia and New Zealand has opened Proposal P1067 to public consultation, seeking to require the star rating on all packaged foods.
Critics compare the scheme to Nutri-Score, the front-of-pack system used in Spain. The concern is that the underlying algorithm gives excessive weight to individual nutritional indicators and does not capture a product's overall value, pushing consumers toward misleading conclusions and creating commercial distortions against high-value European goods.
Brussels weighs a trade barrier
The alarm has reached the European Union. Greek socialist MEP Yannis Maniatis has filed a question to the European Commission asking whether the rating system amounts to a trade barrier. He argues the algorithm ignores the natural bioactive components of olive oil and table olives and the scientifically proven benefits of their moderate consumption. Both products are central to the Mediterranean diet recognised by UNESCO.
Maniatis asked the Commission whether it will assess the impact of the Australian-New Zealand proposal on European exports of olive oil and table olives, whether the measure is compatible with the World Trade Organization agreement on trade barriers, and whether Brussels will raise the issue in its dialogue with Australia.
The proposal lands at a delicate moment for the Spanish sector. HuffPost España notes that Donald Trump has repeated calls to cut trade with Spain, while the Spanish Olive Oil Industry Association (Asoliva) welcomed a recent US Supreme Court ruling against Washington's tariffs. With that front easing, attention now turns to the Pacific.
