Country of origin a source of confusion

CoOl this Australia Day

More than three-quarters of respondents bought Australian food because they want to support Australian farmers and 66% said an important reason for purchasing domestic products was to keep manufacturing jobs in Australia. The desire to support local companies led 65% of respondents to buy local products, while concerns about chemicals and pesticides used in food produced overseas was a key reason for purchasing Australian groceries in 55% of respondents.

CoO in the supermarket aisle

The most common reasons cited by respondents as influencing them to buy an Australian food product instead of an overseas one include:

• Australian reputation for a particular food type
• Better overall quality
• Better choice for the environment
• Fewer chemicals and pesticides used in production
• More ethically produced.

The most commonly cited reasons for choosing overseas over Australian food included:

• Cheaper price
• Overseas country or region's reputation for a particular type of food.

What does it mean to you?

• 12% of respondents know the correct meaning of "Made in Australia", while only three per cent understand the meaning of "Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients". 
• 25% of respondents understand the meaning of "Product of Australia", while only eight per cent know the correct definition of "Australian grown".
• 88% of respondents say it is crucial or very important to be able to identify whether food has been grown in Australia.
• 80% of respondents say it is crucial or very important to be able to identify whether food has been manufactured in Australia.

Just prior to the survey, CHOICE analysed more than 360 products stocked in Coles and Woolworths across popular grocery categories, comparing private label products with their market leader equivalents and checking their origin claims. Of the market-leading products, 42% used qualified or confusing statements to indicate they were packaged locally with some or all ingredients from overseas. Of the Coles products, 63% were labelled as “packaged in Australia from a combination of local and/or imported ingredients”, while 71% of Woolies products were labelled in a similar way.

CHOICE has developed a simplified approach to CoO labelling which we want to see governments adopt in place of the current confusing system. Our proposal would restrict the claims allowed on food products to these three claims:

• A premium claim covering both ingredients and manufacturing, like the current "Grown in" and "Product of" claims, which require all significant ingredients and virtually all processing to be done in the country mentioned.
• A premium claim about manufacturing alone, like the current "Made in" claim, which sets a high standard for the amount of processing that must be done in the country mentioned. CHOICE thinks "Manufactured in" would more clearly indicate to consumers that the claim doesn't cover ingredients.
• A general claim to cover products which don’t meet the requirements for the two premium claims, using wording like "Packaged in" to indicate that minimal manufacturing was done in the country claimed. This would be useful for products which have numerous ingredients and inputs from multiple countries.

CHOICE believes the wording of the three claims should be determined in consultation with industry and through consumer testing to ensure that the claims are easily understood.

Importantly, our proposal would rule out vague qualifications like "local and imported ingredients", which do not provide enough detail to help consumers make informed decisions. Food companies would only be allowed to provide information about ingredients in addition to a manufacturing claim if they specify a characterising ingredient and the actual country of its origin. For example, a frozen stir-fry vegetable mix that currently states "Packaged in Australia from local and imported ingredients" could say "Packaged in Australia from Australian broccoli and carrots".

Consumer education around the new approach to food origin labelling would help shoppers understand what the claims mean. By reducing the number of claims and improving the wording, consumer education is much more likely to be effective.

CHOICE will be campaigning for federal, state and territory governments to support our proposed reforms and commit to clearing up the confusion surrounding food country-of-origin labelling.

If you support CHOICE’s campaign for clearer country of labelling on food products,‘like’ CHOICE’s infographic on Facebook or leave a message of support for our campaign. Alternatively, you can email your message to campaigns@choice.com.au.