Customers misled with ‘Aussie beer’ made in China

A distributing co-operative that sold ‘Aussie Beer’ has been penalised $10,200 for misleading consumers with its deceptive labeling.

The ‘Aussie Beer’ was packaged in green and gold colours and accompanied by the words ‘made from Australia’s finest malt’ and ‘100% owned’ written within a map of Australia.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued Independent Liquor Group with an infringement notice arguing the company had ‘represented that its ‘Aussie Beer’ product was made in Australia, when in fact the product was made in China’.

The Chairman of the ACCC Rod Sims said they had reasonable grounds to believe ILG had breached the law with its false representations of where the beer actually originated.

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“Country of origin representations, particularly those designed to grab the eye of the consumer by using well known symbols, colours, or slogans, must be truthful,” Sims said.

“Consumers are entitled to expect that prominent representations made on packaging are accurate without having to check for disclosures in the fine print,” Sims said.

The fine by the ACCC comes amid a push for greater transparency around where supermarket food is sourced from after a hepatitis A outbreak was found to have originated from imported frozen berries.

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The contaminated berries, which were sold by Patties Foods, were packed in China, with the raspberries, strawberries and blackberries also grown there.

It was initially thought the blueberries were sourced from Chile, but the Department of Health has been advised they were actually grown in Canada.

The Minister for Industry and Science, Ian Macfarlane, has since announced that Country of Origin stickers will be introduced and that he will deliver a proposal to Cabinet in August.

Macfarlane says the current labeling on supermarket products is inadequate.

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“There is no point having a voluntary scheme. There is no point in having ‘made in Australia from local and imported goods’ - that tells people nothing,” Macfarlane told the ABC.

“The Prime Minister and I are very committed to fixing this – consumers are demanding it. And whilst it is going to be a difficult and complicated process, there will be costs all round, consumers do have a right to know where their goods are processed, where the make-up of the goods come from, ” Macfarlane said.

Currently, the ‘made in’ label on a product means that while the product was made in the country claimed, the ingredients may have been grown or sourced overseas.

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Rod Sims says customers have the right to trust that bold declarations on packaging are accurate without having the check the fine print.

“Consumers will often place a premium on the provenance of a product, but are unable to check the accuracy of those claims," Sims said.

“This is particularly the case with Australian made products which encourage consumers to support local industries.”