Aussie shoppers are becoming increasingly conscious about what products they buy and where they come from.
Many of us want to do as much as we can to support local produce and businesses, which is why some shoppers will gravitate towards products with the Australian Made, Australian Grown (AMAG) logo.
The logo can only be used on products that are registered with Australian Made Campaign Ltd and which meet the criteria set out in the Australian Consumer Law and the AMAG Logo Code of Practice.
“It’s Australia’s most trusted, recognised and widely used country of origin symbol, and is underpinned by a third-party accreditation system, which ensures products that carry the logo are certified as ‘genuinely Australian’,” the Australian Made Campaign website states.
However, many shoppers may not realise that just because a product carries the Australian Made logo, does not mean it is owned by an Australian company.
A product can still qualify for the official Australian Made logo, but it could be an international company that’s reaping the profits from sales.
Kristy Ponting, General Manager of local brand certifier Australian Owned, told news.com.au that there is “little transparency” when the term ‘Australian made’ is used.
Surprisingly, products that display the logo don’t even have to include any Aussie ingredients.
“Australian made does not guarantee Australian ownership of course, but it also doesn’t guarantee the product contains a single Australian ingredient,” Ms Ponting said.
She said this can be extremely misleading to shoppers who may think they are helping to support local businesses.
“The majority of consumers assume that when they see ‘Australian made’ the product contains Australian ingredients, and some assume that it is an Australian owned business,” she said.
“Unfortunately due to this, these misleading marketing techniques are often successful in persuading the consumer to purchase the product that is ‘made in Australia’.”
Australian Owned is hoping to not only encourage Aussies to be more conscious about the products they put in their trolley, but also want the government to bring in new regulation around the products stocked in our supermarkets.
They are calling for supermarkets to be required to have a specific percentage of prime shelf locations allocated to Australian owned and manufactured products.
Mark Caine, Massel Director of Sales and Marketing, said many Aussies don’t realise that the profits from ‘Australian Made’ products could be heading straight overseas.
“Some companies use the Australian Made logo or say that their product is ‘made in country Victoria’ but are foreign owned,” he said.
“This is misleading in the context of Australian Owned as the shopper is led to think that the brand is 100 per cent Australian when, in fact, the profits go offshore.”
Mr Caine said the only way to know if a product is truly Aussie owned is to read the label and look for the word “owned”.
“Many Supermarket brands do a good job of supporting a local beef producer or orchard grower and they market that well, however they don’t appear to think that the same support for Australia’s owned packaged food manufacturers will deliver the same positive and emotive response to their brand,” he said.
Only 15 per cent of products going into shoppers’ supermarket trolleys are actually Australian owned, according to research from Ausbuy.
In recent months, an increasing number of popular Australian brands have been bought out by international companies.
One of the latest major brands to depart Australia has been Victorian-based Patties Foods, which owns Four’N Twenty, Herbert Adams, Boscastle, Nanna’s and Leader.
Vesco Foods — which includes On the Menu, Super Nature, Lean Cuisine, Annabel Karmel and Jarraballi — was also snapped up.
The company also provides commercial food services under the 7 Star, Clever Cuisine and Enrico’s brands.
Patties Foods and Vesco Foods were both bought by Pacific Alliance Group, which is based in Hong Kong but also has offices in Australia.
The price tag was reportedly more than $500 million.
Other brands that have been sold to overseas companies and conglomerates include:
• Arnott’s, which was bought by the US-owned Campbell’s Soup Company, then on-sold to US investment fund KKR
• Uncle Tobys, which is owned by Swiss-based Nestle
• Fosters beer, which is owned by Japanese company Asahi
• Tooheys, which is owned by Kirin
• RM Williams, which was sold to LVMH in France before being repurchased by mining magnate Andrew Forrest and his wife Nicola through their company Tattarang
– with NCA NewsWire
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