In light of everything going on with our Aussie dairy farmers, I thought when I went shopping for some pantry items on Friday I’d have a look at what is actually Australian made, grown or owned, and what isn’t. At the end of the day everything Australian contributes to supporting continued Australian production of food.
1. Sweet Chilli Sauce
- Brand: Fountain
- Australian Owned: No
- Australian Made: Yes
- Australian Grown: Local & imported ingredients
There aren’t a lot of choices in sweet chilli sauce, and when you want one with Australian ingredients it gets even harder to find. Fountain is not Australian owned, but it is the cheaper of the two foreign owned ones I found that is made in Australia from local and imported ingredients.
2. Hoisin Sauce
- Brand: Fountain
- Australian Owned: No
- Australian Made: Yes
- Australian Grown: Local & imported ingredients
Again, not many choices. Most of them are in the Asian section of the supermarket, and all of the ones in this section are foreign grown, made and owned. I found this one from Fountain in the regular sauces section which is at least Australian made from local and imported ingredients even though it’s foreign owned.
3. Rice Wine Vinegar
- Brand: Obento
- Australian Owned: No
- Australian Made: No
- Australian Grown: No
Not a lot of choices on this one at all, and all of those choices are completely foreign. Not a big surprised given it’s an Asian ingredient. So I went with Obento solely because it’s the cheapest option and if I’m going to buy overseas anyway, it might as well be cheap.
4. Sesame Oil
- Brand: Absolute Organics
- Australian Owned: Yes
- Australian Made: Yes
- Australian Grown: No
A note to start with, there is an American Absolute Organics as well, this one is the Australian one and of the 5 or 6 choices of Sesame Oil available at my IGA this is the only one that is packed in Australia by an Australian company. All the others are from Singapore, Malaysia and China. It doesn’t surprise me not to see any Australian grown products here as it is again an Asian ingredient, but it would be nice to find one that is.
5. Vegetable Oil
- Brand: Crisco
- Australian Owned: No
- Australian Made: Yes
- Australian Grown: Yes
My local IGA has three brands of vegetable oil: the Black and Gold brand which is made in Australia from local and imported ingredients; ETA which is made in Australia from local and imported ingredients; and Crisco, which is made in Australia from Australian ingredients. ETA and Crisco are both owned by Goodman Fielder, a once Australian company that is now owned jointly by Hong Kong based First Pacific and Singapore based Wilmar. The Black and Gold brand is owned by Metcash, a South African company.
6. Vermicelli Noodles
- Brand: Double Phoenix
- Australian Owned: No
- Australian Made: No
- Australian Grown: No
As with the other Asian ingredients this isn’t a surprise. The only two brands my IGA had are both made in China by Chinese companies from Chinese produce.
7. Water Crackers
- Brand: Dick Smith
- Australian Owned: Yes
- Australian Made: Yes
- Australian Grown: Yes (not shown on packaging)
These were the only ones at IGA that are made in Australia by an Australian owned company. The packaging doesn’t indicate where the wheat that goes into the flour they are made from is grown, but according to the Dick Smith Foods website, it is Australian Grown.
8. Tinned Chick Peas
- Brand: Edgell
- Australian Owned: Yes
- Australian Made: Yes
- Australian Grown: Yes
It turns out the tinned chick peas I normally buy are Italian, for about $0.30 more these are the only ones that are Australian owned, grown and packed. There are a number of other brands, all of which are foreign and are actually more expensive.
9. Tinned Corn Kernels
- Brand: Edgell
- Australian Owned: Yes
- Australian Made: Yes
- Australian Grown: Yes
My IGA only has two brands of tinned corn kernels, Golden Circle, and Edgell. Golden Circle is foreign owned and is a product of New Zealand. Edgell however for just $0.20 more is Australian owned, grown and packed.
10. Wholegrain Rolled Oats
- Brand: Lowan Whole Foods
- Australian Owned: Yes
- Australian Made: Yes
- Australian Grown: Yes
There are a lot of rolled oats on the market. Lowan makes the cheapest ones and they are both Australian grown and packed. As far as I can tell, the company that owns Lowan, Green’s General Foods, is an Australian owned company. Most of the brands oats do seem to be Australian grown except for the organic ones. The organic ones mostly appear to be from Finland.
