Country of origin on the package

cus on 17/11/2019 - 15:44

I looked at a Woolworths brand 375g Salted Peanuts and saw the statement "Packed in Australia from less than 10% Australian ingredients" on its package.

https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/509458/woo…

As a consumer, that doesn't really help me to know where the rest of the food in the package comes from. Should there be a law stating the country of origin for the majority of food in the package?

If 90% of the food coming from overseas and the package has 97% of peanuts, does that mean Woolworths mix 90% of unknown origin nuts with 10% of Australian nuts?

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • elgrande on 17/11/2019 - 15:48
    +17

    The 10% was probably the salt.

    • kahn on 17/11/2019 - 15:50
      +8

      That's nuts.

      • GoldenDragon888 on 17/11/2019 - 16:58
        +2

        I think the OP is a bit salty bro.

  • kahn on 17/11/2019 - 15:52
    +1

    does that mean Woolworths mix 90% of unknown origin nuts with 10% of Australian nuts?

    Read the label again, mate. It says "less than 10% Australian ingredients".

    • Ozpit on 18/11/2019 - 08:54

      Less than 10% is no different to saying less than 100%. What they really mean is no more than 10% but probably less.

    • ozbjunkie on 18/11/2019 - 13:32

      Indeed, could be 0%

  • Ocker on 17/11/2019 - 15:56
    +2

    Woollies source their peanuts from China

    • petry on 17/11/2019 - 19:21
      +2

      sauce please

      • kahn on 17/11/2019 - 22:07

        The pack of roasted peanuts in shell (500 grams) that I bought from Woolworths a few days ago didn't taste very good. They were almost identical to these. Mine was labelled as "Grown in China, packed in Australia".

    • Tiller76 on 18/11/2019 - 11:17
      +1

      Probably explains why I was hungry again half an hour after eating them….

  • Stewardo on 17/11/2019 - 16:07
    +2

    Liquorland website has “Imported beer” section, featuring beer that’s made in Australia. They might pair well with these peanuts

  • ozhunter on 17/11/2019 - 16:34

    It looks better(for the company) than them saying, "This product has 99% imported ingredients."

  • rambutann on 17/11/2019 - 17:11
    +2

    It might also not be that simple to describe the origin of said peanuts.
    There could be a list of different origins.

    • Ozpit on 18/11/2019 - 09:02

      … and the origin of the overseas peanuts may fluctuate, and include a mix from more than one country.

  • boomramada on 17/11/2019 - 17:18
    +1

    This is all one big political madness. You can have item that manufactured in Australia with overseas ingredients and items manufactured overseas but ingredients are Australian. Not everything can manufactured with local ingredients.
    New Made in Australia label is a joke.
    Yet 99.999% Australian flags are made in China, no one ever have any issue with that.

    • loropy9 on 17/11/2019 - 17:38
      +1

      Fair point about the flags. Though, you don’t eat flags with you beer, so it may not affect you too directly.

      • boomramada on 17/11/2019 - 17:56
        -2

        What's that got to do with eating? They both consumables products.
        Speaking of Beer , two major beer companies are overseas owned now. So now what happen to Made in Australia?

        • whooah1979 on 17/11/2019 - 18:13

          Flags aren’t consumable goods. Toilet paper, pencils, batteries, etc, are consumables.

    • Ozpit on 18/11/2019 - 09:09

      Considering you have access to such accurate date, I’m interested in knowing where the remaining 0.001% of Aussie flags are made.

  • sevendollarsfifty on 17/11/2019 - 17:24
    +3

    The main issue here was that many suppliers/manufacturers source due to seasonal demand (or where-ever they can get it cheapest in reality) and if they change suppliers a lot it means that supplier have to update their labels every time, which is very costly with both labour and print-runs. This was already a concern with the industry with bringing in the current rules around listing Australian ingredients, so it was a compromise to not go the step further.

    • cus on 17/11/2019 - 22:53
      +1

      It would be great if company has a website listing the origin country for majority of ingredients in the package according to the batch number or the expiry date. Then no need to change the label on the package.

    • kahn on 18/11/2019 - 13:39

      Your comment reminded me that I hadn't visited RNC's new store in Brunswick (Fallon Street). I bought some nuts from there this morning from a friendly metalhead :-)

  • iforgotmysocks on 17/11/2019 - 19:18
    +2

    I heard that it was nut-free November, so why does it matter?

    • petry on 17/11/2019 - 19:22

      cuz the trees all burnt down?

  • Blue Cat on 17/11/2019 - 21:47
    +3

    If 90% of the food coming from overseas and the package has 97% of peanuts

    The best-case scenario would be that it has 7% Australian peanuts. That's all you can imply.

    On the other hand, if you want to vote with your wallet, buy Coles brand Salted or Unsalted Peanuts which are 100% Australian ingredients made in Australia.
    As far as I remember, even Nobby's are made in China and Aldi's peanuts come from Argentina, so that leaves Coles as the best choice price and peanut origin wise.

    • cus on 17/11/2019 - 22:46

      Thanks for the info. Will surely buy Australian peanuts in Coles from now on.

  • Bystander on 18/11/2019 - 05:32
    +1

    "Packed in Australia from less than 10% Australian ingredients" on its package.

    As you say it tells the buyer nothing about where the product comes from. It's a commonly used ploy for distributors and retailers to hide the truth when they know that people would be less likely to buy it if the real country of origin was printed on the packet. I imagine that it's a pretty safe bet that whenever you see this or a similar message on a product it's actually coming from China or somewhere similar.

    There needs to be better legislation regarding consumer information. Even if the peanuts were sourced from a different country every month it wouldn't cost much at all to put a sticker on the packet to say where the current batch comes from.

    • wabster on 18/11/2019 - 07:39

      Spot on comment. Woolies has taken laws meant to inform consumers about the origins of the food they're eating and twisted them to basically say "This Product is not Australian". The end result of this is essentially that we have to assume China is the default non-Aussie source.

      This practice, and that of importing frozen vegetables from China via New Zealand to exploit the labelling law concessions we give the Kiwis, calling them "Product of New Zealand" means our food labelling laws are almost meaningless to consumers.

      I prefer to not eat food produced and/or processed in China, and prefer to buy Aussie if possible (see https://www.simplot.com.au/our-brands) hence my practice of buying Aussie peanuts from Coles for years. If I have to pay a bit more for knowing where my food is sourced by buying from non supermarket outlets, then so be it.

  • Lastchancetosee on 18/11/2019 - 07:42

    The new food labelling laws are deliberately designed to confuse. Previously, you could only use the kangaroo sign for 100% made in Australia goods. The new system with a scale at the bottom is less obvious, and means you need to carefully read all the other information to try and ascertain the provenance of the food. The argument about the cost of having to change labelling each time ingredients are changed is pretty lame. Manufacturers change labelling when it suits them, for special promotions, etc., but don't want to be compelled to do it.

  • Peanut money on 18/11/2019 - 08:52

    What stops suppliers/retailers slapping a false 100% Australian label?

  • Loopholio on 18/11/2019 - 10:42
    +1

    Coles still sell Un/salted Product of Australia peanuts for around 2.90.
    These have a fine coating of oil so I add some of my favourite Master Foods seasoning which sticks to the nuts very well.

  • OzHunterNSW on 18/11/2019 - 13:18

    Why not ring the people in charge of labelling

    • cus on 20/11/2019 - 00:19
      +2

      I did. Today I received the reply (as shown below) which I think it still doesn't really address my comment of customer doesn't know the origin of Woolworths food. Interestingly, the package has only 3 ingredients: Peanuts (97%),Sunflower oil, salt (1%).

      Dear ***,

      Thanks for taking the time to contact Woolworths with your feedback regarding Woolworths Salted Peanuts 375g.

      Woolworths adheres to requirements across all of our Own Brand products in Australia. The most commonly used country of origin claims include “Product of”, “Grown in” and “Made in” which are explained below.

      ‘PRODUCT OF’/‘GROWN IN’

      This means each significant ingredient in the product originated in the country claimed and all or virtually all of the processes of production happened in that country. ‘Product of Australia’ or ‘Grown in Australia’ claims ensure the food was grown/manufactured and sourced in Australia.

      ‘MADE IN’

      This means that the product was substantially transformed in the country claimed and at least 50% of the costs of production were incurred in that country. Products with ‘Made in’ claims may contain ingredients imported from other countries.

      Manufacturers may use additional qualifiers such as “Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients”, in cases where a ‘Made in’ claim alone cannot be met. Such qualifiers may be used to allow for changes in the availability of individual ingredients.

      To ensure you are purchasing food that has been made in Australia by Australian workers, look for the claims ‘Made in Australia’, ‘Grown in Australia’ or ‘Product of Australia’.

      OUR COMMITMENT

      Woolworths is committed to helping customers make informed decisions when buying Woolworths brands. In addition, we strongly support the growth and development of Australian food producers by giving preference to local suppliers for all of our Own Brand products where possible. At present we have partnerships with over 3100 local suppliers large and small, and 96% of Woolworths’ fruit and vegetables, and 100% of Woolworths’ fresh meat comes from Australia.

      Thanks for contacting Woolworths, hope this is helpful, we are happy to help if you have further questions.

      Kind regards,
      *.. **
      Woolworths Customer Hub"

      • Bystander on 20/11/2019 - 21:18
        +2

        Well done cus - poor effort from WOW.

        WOW and every one else knows that consumers want to be informed about the food they're eating. Replies like this do nothing to address the situation at hand. What bothers me the most is that the only people who can force suppliers to come clean are Federal politicians. And for whatever reason Canberra refuses to bring about the required legislation. Makes you wonder who they work for?

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