I'm probably not telling you anything you haven't read somewhere or heard on the radio or TV, but there is currently a bit of publicity around about the fact that Australian made doesn't necessarily mean Australian owned. This coupled with a wonderful bit of marketing blurb in the latest Coles magazine has prompted this post.
I know this diagram is confusing, and to be honest I don't know how old it is but it's probably a rough enough indication of foreign ownership of our food. You can click on it to see it more clearly.
I tried in a very haphazard way to find out some real facts and summaries, but didn't find anything too conclusive. After all the situation changes all the time. So let's begin with the Australian Made logo that we find on almost all of our food packaging and labelling, and you are probably much like me and try to buy Australian - with exceptions - there are always exceptions. It might be a taste choice - a French cheese, some favourite overseas food or it might be an economic choice, but I doubt that anyone buys exclusively Made in Australia goods. Although we probably try to. What does Australian Made mean though? Well here is fact:
"Australian Made" or "Made in Australia" means the "last substantial transformation" of the ingredients or components must have happened in Australia.
Packaging alone does not count as "substantial transformation".
There is no requirement that the business be owned by Australian citizens or that the ingredients or components be produced in Australia.
The statements "Australian Grown" or "Product of Australia" means all the significant ingredients and components have been grown in Australia and virtually all of the processing has been done here too." 9 News
The thing that brought this to my attention - well I sort of knew all that - is the media reports of a group of Australian food processors and manufacturers - led by Norco - Australia's largest dairy co-operative, which now wants there to be an 'Australian owned' logo too.
Because, of course, just because it's made or grown here, doesn't mean it's owned by an Australian company which means that even if the company employs, both directly and indirectly, hundreds, maybe thousands of Australians, and presumably pays some tax to the Australian government - ultimately the profits go overseas. As Mayvers CEO Bethaney George said:
"with foreign-owned companies, they can still use that labelling as Australian made. That means the money isn't obviously then reinvested in the Australian market - it's been siphoned offshore and not reinvested in our local communities or with our local suppliers."
As I noted in my post about the supermarkets - Aldi's profits go overseas - to its private owners. There are no public shareholders.
Anyway to narrow it down a bit I took as my prompt Coles' bit of marketing in their current magazine. A double page spread features the Bond family of Cooriridge Farms in Victoria. I tried to find a website for the farm itself but there appears to be none. It's one of those feel-good articles - there's a video too - and the words of the promotion on the Coles website. It's very clever - words of praise from the farmer - Adrian - fourth generation dairy farmer, with a son moving into the business as well. Gorgeous countryside, lovely cows, happy family of fairly chunky, but healthy looking people, so happy to be working with Coles who give them security of income via and grants to improve some of the farm infrastructure. And then, as I noted a week or so ago, Coles processes the milk itself. So yes, genuinely an Australian product. Coles is currently undertaking a campaign called Great Lengths which has set up the Coles Sustainable Dairy Development Group with all of their 109 Dairy farms. All of their milk comes from these same 109 farms, with whom they confer on various issues via the Group. All good-sounding stuff. I'm sure Woolworths does good things too - I just haven't heard about it. And, of course, it's not all sunshine and love - it's marketing. But it does at least sound as if it's local.
So I decided to look at who else owns the milk we buy in the supermarket. I think this diagram is current, but I checked what Coles sells in the way of milk - not plant milks - just milk. Well the Coles home-brand is definitely all Australian. Now whether the farmers are getting a fair price is a whole other question which I won't go into here, although the Bond family did say in that article:
"Having prices set with Coles is a game changer. Knowing what I'm getting now and next year takes a lot of stress out." Adrian Bond
All I will say is that it looks as if the prices are set for two years only, but I guess that's fair enough. Circumstances change. Anyway - a whole different issue.
Back to ownership. Bega - Australia's largest dairy company owns Pura, Big M, Farmer's Union, and Dairy Farmers. Saputo - a Canadian company owns Devondale and Great Ocean Road. Which makes me feel a bit guilty because I buy Devondale almost butter spread because I like the taste. New Zealand owns A2 although I think Australian may own some of it. Paul's is owned by the French company Parmalat. I'm only looking at milk here. Obviously dairy is a larger thing than just milk. Another time perhaps.
Do we care? After all, the milk is definitely produced here in Australia, by Australians. Indeed some of it is exported overseas, which must bring in money for Australia at some point. Yes all - or most of - the profits go overseas but is it likely that at some time in the future they will take all our food back to their own countries? I'm sure there are certainly some who would posit that idea - particularly if the owners are Chinese. And let's be honest, large chunks of our farming industry is actually owned by overseas companies. The top three farmed salmon companies, for example - Tassal, Huon and Petuna are all foreign owned - by Canada, Brazil and New Zealand. Do we count New Zealand as foreign?
Biggest international food companies? Well everyone seems to agree that Nestlé which is Swiss is the largest, followed by Mondelez (USA), Danone SA (France) and Kraft/Heinz (USA) - but there are many others, and they probably all own something we buy on a regular basis.
If you read the tiny, tiny print on all your food labels you can probably find out who actually owns the company that makes it. Anyway, sort of interesting. The rest is up to our own private conscience, and, to a certain extent, government regulation.
At least Coles' profits are either reinvested or shared out amongst its shareholders - probably you and me - if not directly, then at least through our superannuation fund.
POSTSCRIPT
September 28
2023 - Nothing
2017 - Nothing
2016 - How hard can it be?
It's an ongoing issue which poliucticians have nade into a "populist" activity in an attempt to get the focus off home ownership and cost of living impacting evceryone. First they had a go at the Reserve Bank and their interest rate of 4.35%. How it is Coles and Woolies,,who at least are owned by us and like good old Aldi tightly held by a German familly!