Hi there folks, I haven’t been here for a while but something has been bugging me about the country of origin labelling.
What do you make of this? It obviously it’s just bottled in Australia and the label doesn’t mention the origins of the actual food. It could be from India, China, NZ, Brazil or anywhere…the consumer has no idea. It seems that the word “made” is just thrown around at random.
Is this a loophole in the system?
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Spot on @ozcatfish_agogo, we’ve called for further improvements to the system. Future reviews might be an importunity to make these improvements.
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It could also be mixed in Australia from imported ingredients, such as oils, juices, herbs and spices etc and then bottled.
I recall the old Made in Australia meant that there was some sort of processing in Australia, albeit minor in nature…
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I find that when it states on the products label . Contains at least 98% Australian contents a bit misleading too .
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That is hopeless, it tells you nothing about where any of the ingredients come from. Worse than useless in my opinion.
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This is precisely what I pointed out to the standards/labelling agency in the “consultation phase” of the process. The LNP government just ignored the whole purpose of product labelling, especially with country of origin facts. I for one want to know precisely what’s in my food and where it comes from and where it was manufactured/processed. Too often “made in NZ” was actually “made in China” and shipped directly (via the China/NZ FTA) to Australia without ever landing in NZ.
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Case: Golden Circle Apple Raspberry fruit drink. The label says 'Packed in Australia from at least 73% Australian ingredients. The ingredients listed are: Water, Reconstituted Fruit Juice (Apple 24%, Raspberry 1%), Sugar, Food Acid, Vitamin C, Natural Flavours. Does this mean the Australian ingredient is substantially water? and if so I think this is misleading if you go out of your way to buy Australian products.
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Yes, it appears to be the case. Labelling requirements don’t have exceptions such as water…as water is classed as an ingredient.
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Hello @Desw, what a great observation, and thank you for joining in the community.
‘drink’ not ‘juice’ probably says it all
It’s a drink just as lemonade and colas are drinks.
And yes it’s terribly misleading if you equate Golden Circle Apple and Raspberry to a juice.
Coke apparently imports a key portion (syrup?) of it’s name brand product which makes it’s Cola. What percentage Aussie content do they claim?
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It might be preferable to have the Australian content mainly water - which is usually classed as safe to drink. Not sure about some water from overseas.
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Welcome to the community forum @enbconje.
To have assurance any added water is Aussie water would be great, if that is what the Australian content is.
With residential supplied water coming in at between $3-$5 per thousand litres the value add might be missing. Bulk treated water to large scale users is typically less.
This would suggest the Aussie content in a one litre package of reconstituted fruit drink has an input value of a few tenths of one cent.
P.S.
It’s possible the added water undergoes a final filtration and sterilisation prior to mixing. Add another tenth of one cent?
A large portion of the value of the product is likely associated with the bottling/packaging, marketing and distribution, which is in Australia. Profit distributions ???
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An article regarding country of origin labelling in Australia.
Great to read this part. “Australia has some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world.”
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I have seen dozen pf packaged good with NO COUNTRY of origin. Just as the label above. I think this is really a disgrace not to know where you item comes from.
Choice should have a big say in that. They have done a lot already…to no avail. Supermarkets keep on flaunting the issues.
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Earlier this week on China in Focus I heard that the USA is further banning foods such as STEVIA from China as it’s made with slave labour.
I have a tin of stevia in my cupboard and looked at the label. It states: Packed in Australia from imported ingredients .
This is unacceptable labelling in my opinion. Since COVED-19, we have tried to avoid buying Chinese made foodstuff and I feel with this type of labelling (on other foods as well) this is deceptive information to the consumer and I wish the government to cease to allow such practices. The producers of food should be upfront with the origin of food and it should be a government led initiative.
I sincerely hope you can raise this issue with the government as with present labelling, the consumer is being duped.
Thank you
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Hi @blackjack, welcome to the community.
There is only one Chinese Stevia company, PureCircle, which I can find that has allegations about slave (prison) labour in the manufacture of its stevia. It is worth noting that the company has denied that they use slave or force labour. This Reuter’s article may be of interest:
and this South China Morning Post also has some information as well:
PureCircle is one of many Chinese Stevia manufacturers. China is also not the only company which manufacturers stevia. Other countries include the USA, Brazil etc. It is possible that the source of the Stevia is not from PureCircle (if allegations are true) or from other countries other than China.
The only way to confirm where the stevia came from is to approach the company who retails the product in Australia, with the batch number to see if they can provide information on its source.
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I saw the hand sanitiser being sold in Woolworths under the brand of Oz-Guard…… Sounds Australian!
But…. Did you know when you look hard at the label, it is made in China? Deception Plus, especially during a time when people are making a decision to buy Australian where possible
IT is hard enough for Australian manufacturing without this happening to us as well.
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There are a lot of products which have ‘Australian owned’ or ‘Australian business’ which may be owned by Australians, but their product isn’t…it is foreign.
Both Woolworths and Coles are Australian publically listed companies, but many of their own brands or products sold in store are not Australian origin.
Aldi has been notorious in the past of placing an Auatralian flag or the green and gold Australian logo on their products when they are foreign ingredients but processed in Australia.
There are many legal deceptions and one needs to read labels carefully to determine a product’s origin.
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Are they Australian companies? True!
Just because a company is an Australian company or does not automatically follow it is Australian owned. For some companies EG Shell Australia Pty Ltd, most would suggest it is foreign owned despite the corporate identity stating clearly Australia.
Notably BHP is more than 90% foreign owned. Woollies and Westfarmers (Coles etc) have approx 20% Australian ownership. The largest foreign invested in Australia is the USA. American investors hold approx 73% of BHP.
Apparently as Australian’s we would rather invest in property, IE land values, than our own businesses.
What does that mean for deceptive labelling? It should start with the true ownership of the brand and product.
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I recently contributed with respect to Stevia which stated : Packed in Australia from imported ingredients. Why is this vague and senseless information tolerated?
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One more doubtful foreign owned business, Simplot taken to task by the ACCC?
No mention of any penalties. Just a change in labeling from ‘Made in Australia’ to ‘Packed in Australia’. The seafood may have originated from NZ, USA or SA according to the report.
The products imported are sold under well known brands, and one home branded. Simplot owns many brands including Birds Eye, I&J, and Neptune.
The official release from the ACCC.
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