Farmers are calling for an overhaul of labelling laws to help people identify Australian grown and packaged food following the frozen berries scare.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Peter Tuohey said loopholes in existing labelling laws had allowed many imported foods to be presented as though they were Australian made.
An outbreak of hepatitis A in Australia linked to imported frozen berries had underscored the importance of consumers making informed choices, Mr Tuohey said.
"Our view would be to buy Australian grown and you're going to going to eat a safer, better quality product than imported," Mr Tuohey told AAP on Monday.
"But quite often these imported products are packaged in a way that makes them look Australian made.
"We've been pushing for truth-in-labelling laws for years and it hasn't happened yet."
Mr Tuohey said Australian food producers had to meet strict growing, handling and quality assurance standards often not in place in the country of origin for imported foods.
Eight people have contracted hepatitis A after consuming suspect berries and their importer, Patties Foods, has announced a recall of three products.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council has praised the company for taking swift action once the contamination issue was highlighted by the Victorian health department on Saturday.
"It is important to note that this is a food safety issue, and not a labelling issue," an AFGC spokesperson also told AAP.
"Regardless of whether the food for sale in Australia has come from overseas or domestic sources it needs to be safe for consumption.
"Australia has a strong food safety regulatory system, including a system of alerts and recalls, and that is currently in operation in this case."
The recalled products are 1kg packs of Nanna's Frozen Mixed Berries, and 300g and 500g packs of Creative Gourmet Mixed Berries.
The recall shows there are serious concerns about imported food safety, AUSVEG deputy CEO Andrew White said.
"Given that Australian producers are required to comply with some of the world's strictest quality assurance standards before their products are made available for public consumption, it is high time the same level of scrutiny is applied to imported produce to ensure public safety," Mr White said.
Mr White said clearer country-of-origin laws would give consumers a choice and allow local growers to compete with international companies.
"It is in the public interest to provide consumers with clarity about where the produce they are buying comes from," he said.
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