Truth about Bega and Sanitarium peanut butter

Beloved Australian brands, including Bega and Sanitarium, market products as ‘Made in Australia’, even though they contain little to no homegrown ingredients.

Peanut butter spreads from Bega, Sanitarium and Woolworths’ Macro all use less than 25 percent Australian ingredients, with one famous label containing no Australian products at all, despite peanuts being grown in Australia.

Sanatorium

Peanut butter spread made by Sanitarium contains no Australian ingredients, despite the made in Australia symbol on the packaging.

In a statement to the Daily Mail Australia, Sanitarium said there were not enough peanut farmers in Australia to “meet the demand”.

“To guarantee a constant supply of Sanitarium peanut butter all year round, we have to source peanuts from abroad,” said a spokesperson.

‘Country of Origin labeling was introduced several years ago to inform consumers about where the ingredients come from.

“This label appears on Sanitarium peanut butter, making it completely transparent to consumers that the peanuts we use do not come from Australia. However, our claim that the product is ‘Made in Australia’ remains true.”

bega

The content of Australian ingredients in Bega spreads remains extremely low.

The traditional smooth, light and firm spreads contain less than 10 percent Australian products, the exact amount is unknown.

Under the small label, Bega has even included an explanation for the low figure, blamed on a lack of peanut farmers in Australia.

‘Australians eat more peanuts than our local industry can supply! We are currently working with our Australian farmers to grow more peanuts,” Bega says on the packaging.

Bega offers another peanut butter product called Simply Nuts, which comes in a different green packaging and contains 100 percent Australian ingredients.

Bega’s website doesn’t mention that the ingredients come from abroad, but instead focuses on where it’s manufactured.

‘We are committed to making Australia’s favorite peanut butter. We are the peanut experts and we source only the best Hi-Oleic peanuts, rich in good fats, for the freshest roasted peanut flavor to make the best peanut butter products for all of Australia,” the website reads.

“Our original Bega peanut butter has been made in Port Melbourne for over 55 years, using the same recipe to consistently deliver the roasted peanut flavor that Australians love.”

A Bega spokesperson noted the difficult conditions Australia faces for peanut production and said it had “temporarily” reduced its Australian ingredients.

“Aussie peanut farmers had a tough season in 2019 due to challenging growing conditions in Queensland, caused by drought in several key growing regions,” a spokesperson told the Daily Mail Australia.

‘We have therefore decided to temporarily reduce the percentage of Australian peanuts in our Bega Peanut Butter products. While this decision may be disappointing to some, we hope this reduction is temporary.’

It underlined its ambitions to help the peanut industry in Australia grow and said the Simply Nuts product offers a 100 percent Australian ingredient alternative.

Macro – Woolworths

Despite the text and logo ‘Made in Australia’, Macro peanut butter sources 100 percent of its peanuts from abroad.

Macro is especially popular with vegans because the product contains no animal ingredients.

It also offers the most expensive option on the market, priced at $6 for 375 grams.

Woolworths said it was looking to work with farmers to ensure Australia’s peanut industry could recover.

“We work with hundreds of Australian suppliers and aim to source locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. However, the supply of Australian peanuts is currently limited throughout the market,” said a spokesperson.

“All of our own brand food products bear the Australian Government Country of Origin label, which is strictly regulated.

“The system provides clear labeling to help customers make an informed choice, explicitly identifying products that use 100 percent Australian ingredients, and products made in Australia from local or imported ingredients.

’75 percent of our own branded food products are made in Australia to support local production and employment, many of which contain Australian-sourced ingredients.’

Why do many peanut butter spreads contain so few Australian ingredients?

The peanuts Australians consume each year come mainly from foreign farms, with an estimated 70 percent of which is imported into the country each year.

The peanut butter industry is trying to work with farmers to solve the problem.

Peanuts require a significant amount of water to be harvested, with Australia’s arid, arid regions providing a roadblock.

Bega GM Adam McNamara says they will continue to work with farmers to try and bring the trade back to Australia’s shores.

“Our ambition as a major Australian food company is to really increase levels of Australian peanuts and become less dependent on imported peanuts,” said Mr. McNamara of Bega Foods.

The company’s processing facility is located in Kingaroy, once Australia’s peanut home.

It produced nuts using dry crops, but 2020 was the first recorded season where no peanuts were produced, thanks in part to the scorching summer, which devastated large swaths of the East Coast by wildfires.

It is believed that providing farmers with more access to irrigation water could help the industry, with growers urging the government to provide more options.

“The most important thing for growers is that they have options because we know that seasons are variable and I think we can try to give growers different options for different planting windows and also for different rainfall or climatic conditions,” says Bega. breeder Dan O’Connor told the ABC.