Country of Origin Labelling Guide | Discover with Woolworths

Country of origin labelling

What you need to know about the food labels

The Australian Government introduced a new country of origin food labelling system, which commenced on 1 July 2016, to make it easier to understand where your food comes from. The labels tell you at a glance where the products you buy are grown, produced, made or packed. The percentage of Australian ingredients are displayed in a simple bar chart to help you make more informed decisions.

Look for this label. A triangle with a green-colored background and an orange-colored kangaroo, accompanied by an orange-filled bar chart positioned underneath, illustrating the percentage of Australian ingredients.

What do the labels look like?

Grown in

For food where all of the ingredients are Australian grown.

Product of

For food where all of the ingredients are Australian and all major processing has been done here.

Made in

For food where the ingredients come from Australia or overseas and major processing has been done here.

Packed in

For food that is not grown, produced or made in Australia. This features only a bar chart which shows the percentage of Australian ingredients.

Imported

All imported foods produced, made, grown or packed outside Australia must have their country of origin on the label.

FAQs

Most food for human consumption that is sold at a retail level in Australia is required to comply with the new Standard. Priority foods - which include products such as meat, fruit, vegetables, milk, cheese - must use the new labelling system. The labels must be displayed on the package if the product is packaged, or near the product if the product is unpackaged.

Non-priority foods include seasonings, confectionery, biscuits and snack food, bottled water, soft drinks and sports drinks, tea and coffee and alcoholic beverages.

Non-priority food must display a country of origin text statement and can voluntarily show the additional information (kangaroo logo and bar chart) on their labels.

There is a range of short statements available depending on where the food is grown, produced, made, packaged or otherwise processed. Some examples include:

Calling out the origin of specific ingredients, for example, ‘Australian Beef’ can replace ‘Australian Grown’.
Foods made overseas with Australian ingredients can display the percentage of Australian ingredients e.g. ‘Made in New Zealand from at least 45% Australian ingredients’.
Certain Australian food products exported for minor processing overseas and reimported will state what processing occurred overseas, for example ‘Australian Prawns (peeled in Thailand)’.

The labels can be in any colour or font as long as it is legible and in English.

The remaining percentage of a product comes from imported ingredients. The legislation mandates that suppliers must represent the percentage of Australian ingredients only. If you would like information as to where the remaining percentage is from, you can enquire with our Contact Centre or contact the Supplier directly. Supplier contact details are always on a product.

Products are able to claim an average percentage in instances where the source of ingredients vary. This average is calculated based on a one, two or three-year period that concluded within the last two years. The label must provide a way for you to get information on the proportion of actual ingredients.

The labels are voluntary on non-priority foods. However, Woolworths is committed to putting them on all our Own Brand products even if they are not required to. So, when you are shopping you can see clearly where Woolworths products are grown, produced, made or packed.

When you’re shopping online, you can conveniently find the label in the product details section of the product page. Priority foods will display the Country of Origin Label, and non-priority foods will display a country of origin text statement.

This information has been sourced from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission https://www.accc.gov.au/countryoforigin

Australia’s food labels are now clearer