The country’s consumer watchdog has initiated inquiries into Aldi, Coles and Leggo’s after a Four Corners investigation by ABC News raised allegations that tomato products that are advertised as Australia-grown were actually sourced from China.
The report came from a series of tests by forensic laboratory Source Certain, which examined 221 processed tomato brands over several months and found 22 per cent of them were not from the claimed country of origin.
The businesses in question told Inside Retail that they reject the claims raised by Four Corners. At the same time, they all committed to reviewing their own supply chains, with Coles promising to commission independent testing.
Simplot, the widely-accused maker of Leggo’s tomato products, went on to challenge the testing methodology and criticise its lack of transparency.
But the ACCC has weighed in and promised to look at potentially misleading consumer conduct.
“It is important that consumers can be confident that any claims made on food labelling, packaging and in advertisements are truthful, accurate and not misleading,” said ACCC commissioner Luke Woodward.
“We know that consumers may be guided by non-price factors, including claims about the country of origin or supply chain, when choosing which food products to buy.”