A proposal by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to trial QR code–based food labelling has drawn criticism from consumer advocates, who warn it could reduce transparency around how food is produced.
Under the proposed trial, key labelling information could be moved off physical packaging and accessed instead through QR codes, potentially removing the requirement for companies to clearly display details such as the use of gene-edited ingredients.
Advocacy group GE Honesty says the move risks undermining informed consumer choice and points to overseas precedents where similar approaches have failed. In the United States, courts ruled against QR-only food labelling, finding it restricted access to information, confused shoppers, and reduced transparency at the point of purchase.
Critics argue that food labels should be visible, simple, and immediately accessible, rather than dependent on smartphones, apps, or reliable data connections inside supermarkets.
They warn that shifting essential information behind QR codes could disadvantage consumers who lack access to suitable technology or who need quick, clear information while shopping.
MPI is currently seeking public feedback on the proposed trial. Consumer groups are urging New Zealanders who value clear food labelling to make submissions opposing any move toward QR-code-only disclosures, arguing that on-pack labels remain essential for informed decision-making. Submissions to MPI can be made online here.
Your food labels could soon be replaced with a QR code.
MPI wants to run a trial that allows food labelling to be pushed off the packet and into a QR code. If this goes through, companies won’t need to clearly show how food is produced – including gene-edited ingredients.… pic.twitter.com/N1S3tHQFlJ
— GE Honesty (@GEHonesty) December 13, 2025
Just when you thought that the foul river of oily slime oozing
from the eye-darting big-corporate monopoly
snakes’ fetid arseholes during their locked secret boardroom
meetings couldn’t possibly keep overflowing and flooding out
even further
Simple. Boycott any product with QR labeling. Who the hell do MPI think they are? Nameless and faceless bureaucrats who think we are going to take this lying down? Hands off our food you monsters!
Mpi were the ones who stopped ivermectin
You have nailed it.
Boycott food or any products requiring QR codes. We will see how long it lasts
Why?
What is the reasoning given for moving it off packaging?
It is about collecting even more data about how you live. Scan the code and this will be incorporated with the rest of the information about you
By deception
We shall wage war
Against the white race
Who we are claiming to be
Hmmm that means you would have to take a traceable smart phone with you, wherever you go, too. A double win for the state! Enhanced surveillance and fudging GMO food labelling.
QR Codes is an instruction to your handheld device. Do not use them. They take your data.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVF6NVnJvd8
I made a submission. They are just trying to hide the garbage ingredients in most supermarket foods
Good luck with QR codes. We don’t even have an app for it on our phones.
According to Wikipedia, a QR code, short for quick-response code, is a type of two-dimensional matrix barcode invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara of the Japanese company Denso Wave for labelling automobile parts.
The push to lobotomise, tranquillise and hypnotise human beings, made of flesh and blood, into compartmentalised living as human machine hybrids is evident and here is a perfect example. However, one programming error and the glitch is replicable over an infinite number of times, leading to malfunction, mayhem and chaos. We are not cars.