Local or imported? - Confusing Labelling

I bought this pasta from Coles a few months ago. I always buy San Remo but only just noticed this confusing packaging. Where is it from???

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Isn’t this a good example of how utterly confusing the regulations are regarding source of goods ? I blame those who produced said regulations, who appear to have been bending over backwards in their efforts to help suppliers rather than clarify things for buyers 


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San Remo Macaroni P/L has a plant in Italy. As such the product is manufactured by San Remo Macaroni P/L, a local company, in Italy.

Their web page extols their Australian operations for ‘regular’ pastas and includes this that should explain it.

All San Remo Gluten Free Pasta products are manufactured in our exclusively gluten-free facility in Italy, with robust quality and food safety measures in place. No gluten-containing products/raw materials are handled in our manufacturing site. For each batch of ingredients, we receive, we require certificates of analysis from our suppliers showing that gluten is absent in the ingredients they supply.

The labelling is thus correct.

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Its head office is in Australia at the address in the box. The pasta is manufactured and distributed by San Remo Macaroni P/L (Australian address) and produced in Italy. They have two different meanings.

It is a bit like store branded products which say ‘made in Italy’ but manufacturered for and have the supermarkets head off address on the label.

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In this case, the word “for” is not included, so to me. it means that it is manufactured in Australia.

Very poor labelling.

it is not manufactured ‘for’, it is manufactured ‘by’ the Australian company in their Italian plant. The labelling is correct as well as accurate based on the evidence at hand.

It would be ‘for’ if the factory was a contracted 3rd party supplier providing product for San Remo labelling.

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Unexpected but reassuring.

It’s possible San Remo Macaroni Co Pty Ltd could add a few words to remove any possibility of misinterpretation.

EG “Proudly produced in our Italian factory” to further the positive image of Aussies investing in Italy. Whether it adds value, or customers to make any change?

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Not a pasta article but another example of poor wording.

“Australia’s number-one car maker”?

Tell ‘im he’s dreamin’.

Ok, as a simple consumer my lay understanding was that ‘manufactured’ means the same as ‘produced’. Especially when coupled with the words “and packed by”. I didn’t realise the food miles involved with Italian pasta flown from Italy to be packed in Australia.
And I didn’t need or intend to buy gluten-free!

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While you may have been confused, labelling requirements are quite clear. The term ‘manufactured’ isn’t a required or standard labelling term:

San Remo, an Australian Business, is correct by saying that it is manufactured by them. It was produced in Italy.

As I indicated above, similar labelling is wide spread across a large number of products. A good example is store branded items.

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This San Remo FAQ page is more explicit (click through)

For those who don’t click, here is a snip of the product labelling styles.

They adhere to all labelling standards and requirements. Since they own the plant in Italy San Remo is the manufacturer. They make some products in Italy and it is properly labelled as ‘Produced in Italy’. eg. the head office is in SA, a factory is in Italy. It is thus manufactured by ‘head office’ but is a product of Italy.

Some related topics you may find interesting include

That government programs to improve country of origin labelling and terms such as ‘manufactured’, ‘product of’ and so on continue to confuse it reinforces the labelling could be improved.

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The partner brought home some giant cashews from an Australian Owned company. The product origin on the label blends in, perhaps to be less obvious the nuts are from Indonesia?

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Well they don’t say product of Australia, so nothing blatantly misleading I can see.
However, I wonder how many orchards there are in Coburg, Melbourne.