“Australian Made” on Food Labels – Traps, Myths and Logo Confusion

Credit: Australian Made, Australian Grown: the green‑and‑gold kangaroo logo is a registered certification trade mark that tells shoppers this product has been certified as genuinely made or grown in Australia under the Australian Made Campaign’s rules, sitting alongside (not replacing) the mandatory country of origin label on food.

Why “Australian Made” On Food Is Not Just Marketing

Slapping “Australian made” on a food label can feel like a no‑brainer. Consumers like it, retailers encourage it, and brand owners want to shout it from the shelves. But once those words appear on packaging, the Australian Consumer Law and the country of origin rules step quietly into the room, along with the Australian Made kangaroo.

Between the Country of Origin Food Labelling Information Standard 2016, the ACCC’s enforcement role, and the separate Australian Made certification logo, there is plenty of scope for well‑intentioned brands to get into trouble without ever meaning to mislead anyone. This is especially true for smaller producers and “family owned” businesses that are growing fast and have not revisited their origin claims in years. Think you’re covered just because the ingredients are local?

Not so fast.

“Made in Australia” – when are these words allowed?

At the risk of oversimplifying, not all “Australian” claims are created equal. “Grown in”, “Produced in”, “Made in” and “Packed in” each carry different legal tests, and the law expects you to know which one you are using.

“Made in Australia” is not just a warm‑and‑fuzzy phrase. It has a specific meaning: the product must have undergone its last substantial (or “significant”) transformation in Australia, and the result must be fundamentally different in identity from each imported component. It is not enough that most ingredients are Australian; nor is it enough that you simply blend, slice or re‑pack imported goods here.

For everyday foods sold in Australia – things like bread and breakfast cereals, milk, yoghurt and cheese, fresh and processed meat, seafood, canned vegetables and soups, frozen chips and ready‑meals, snack foods such as crisps and muesli bars, and many chilled convenience products – the green‑and‑gold country of origin box with the kangaroo, bar chart and a statement such as “Made in Australia from at least 70% Australian ingredients” must appear on the label. These products are called “priority foods” under the law, because they are the kinds of staple items where shoppers routinely care about where the food and its ingredients come from and are more likely to use origin information when choosing between brands.

The rule exists so that consumers can quickly compare how “Australian” different everyday foods really are, using a standard, easy‑to‑read graphic instead of trying to decode small print or marketing slogans. It also forces businesses to back up their “Made in Australia” and percentage‑of‑Australian‑ingredients claims with real data and records, rather than vague impressions, which helps build trust and reduces the risk of misleading “Aussie” branding on products that are largely made or sourced overseas.

By contrast, a smaller group of products (legally called “non‑priority foods”) such as some confectionery, herbs and seasonings, salt, sugar and bottled water do not need the full graphic box and can use a simpler text‑only origin statement. Those green bars are not just decoration; they are a visual snapshot of the percentage of Australian ingredients, and the numbers and words in that box are treated as hard facts that must be supported by real records and calculations, not rough guesses

Where the Australian Made Logo Fits (And Where It Doesn’t)

Then there is the separate Australian Made, Australian Grown kangaroo logo – a registered certification trade mark run by Australian Made Campaign Limited, not the ACCC. We often tend to see that this is where confusion happens.

For most supermarket foods, you are really dealing with two different kangaroos that play two different legal roles.

First, the green‑and‑gold country of origin box on food is compulsory for most everyday foods sold in Australia (the law calls these “priority foods”). It has a kangaroo, a bar chart and wording like “Made in Australia from at least 70% Australian ingredients”. This is not a certification logo; it is a regulatory label required by government rules, and it must follow the country of origin food standard exactly. It tells shoppers, in a standardised format, how “Australian” the food and its ingredients actually are, based on evidence the business must keep.

Second, the Australian Made logo – the green triangle with the gold kangaroo – is voluntary, even on food. Businesses can only use it if they are licensed and if their products meet the Australian Made Campaign’s rules. It does not replace the mandatory origin box. Instead, it can sit alongside that box as an extra signal that the product has been certified under that separate program.

In practice, this means you can see two kangaroos on the same pack: one inside the government‑mandated origin box, and one as part of the Australian Made certification logo. They may look similar, but they are doing different legal jobs and each has its own rulebook. The law is set up this way so that:

consumers always get a standard, comparable origin label on everyday foods, regardless of whether a brand joins any certification scheme; and
businesses that do meet stricter criteria can opt in to the Australian Made program and use that logo as an additional marketing and trust signal.

Confusion creeps in when businesses assume that any kangaroo symbol means they are automatically “covered” for origin claims. The reality is the opposite: the kangaroos only help if the separate tests behind each symbol are genuinely met and can be proven.

Evidence, Percentages and the ACCC’s View

“Australian Family Owned” and Other Phrases

Many food brands want to lean into their local roots. “Australian family owned” or “100% Aussie company” can stand out on a crowded supermarket shelf, but when the ownership or operations are more complicated, these claims can turn into a legal risk rather than just a marketing choice.

Claims about ownership and origin are treated as factual representations, so they must be accurate, current and not gloss over key parts of the story. If a business has had periods of foreign ownership, offshore control or now manufactures some products overseas, a simple “Australian family owned and operated since 2026” can create an impression of continuous, purely local control that does not match reality. Under Australian Consumer Law, what matters is the overall impression on a reasonable shopper, including what is left unsaid, not just the literal words chosen. If that consumer walks away believing the business has always been Australian family‑owned, or that production is wholly local, when the true story is more mixed, the claim risks being misleading.

Why This Area Can Be Harder Than It Looks

On paper, the rules about origin look tidy. In practice, supply chains move, ingredient sources vary from batch to batch, co‑packers are used, and different SKUs within a range can have different percentages of Australian content over time. Add in private‑label arrangements, export variants, and legacy packaging that lingers in the system, and the neat diagram in the ACCC’s guide starts to feel rather theoretical.

The Australian Made logo, the mandatory origin box, and additional origin‑style statements (on pack, in advertising, online) all need to work together without creating a misleading overall impression. Getting that balance right usually involves more than simply reading a checklist; it requires someone to map the actual business reality against what the law expects – and then translate that back into clear, defensible label copy.

Common questions that come up in practice include:

Can I say my food is Aussie‑made if the ingredients are mostly imported but blended here?
What if the food is made in Australia, but the packaging is imported?
How do I handle ranges where the Australian ingredient percentage changes seasonally?

The answers depend heavily on the specifics – which is why generic checklists and “rules of thumb” are only a starting point.

Where to From Here?

This article can only scratch the surface. It is not legal advice, and it cannot tell you whether your particular “Australian made” claim, logo use or origin box is compliant. Every product, supply chain and brand story is different, and the regulators judge them in context, not in the abstract.

If you are unsure whether you can call a food “Australian made”, how to show your percentage of Australian ingredients, or whether you can use a kangaroo logo at all, specialised advice is essential rather than optional.

Sharon Givoni Consulting works in precisely this space – helping food businesses, brand owners and marketers navigate the intersection between origin claims, certification marks and the Australian Consumer Law so that “Australian made” remains an asset, not a liability.