It is an iconic Australian logo, but is the kangaroo in the triangle confusing customers?

A survey of more than 1,000 people commissioned by dairy cooperative Norco found more than half of consumers were guided by the Australian Made logo.

But Norco CEO Michael Hampson is concerned grocery buyers believed they were supporting Australian-owned businesses when they buy products with the logo when that was not necessarily the case.

"Three-quarters of consumers believe that country of ownership should be on the food labels they buy on the supermarket shelves to take this confusion out when they're making their purchase decisions."

The logo is administered by Australian Made Campaign Limited, a not-for-profit public company established in 1999 by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the support of the federal government.

In 2016, as part of a shake-up of food-labelling laws, the Australian government incorporated the kangaroo logo into a new country-of-origin label.

There are several versions of the logo:

• Australian Made, where the product has undergone its last substantial transformation in Australia;
• Australian Grown, where all of the product's significant ingredients have been grown in Australia and all or nearly all of the processing has been carried out in Australia; and
• Australian Grown & Owned, where businesses can choose to include "& owned" with the relevant country-of-origin claim for their products.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) there are no requirements under Australian Consumer Law for businesses to provide specific information on their country of ownership, but businesses may voluntarily do so.

The Norco survey found only one in 10 shoppers did their own research on where products came from.

'Owned' vs 'made'

Mr Hampson said foreign-owned companies were still able to use the Australian Made logo if the product was grown, made, or produced in Australia.

A coalition of Australian-owned food businesses is now calling for clearer labelling on supermarket grocery items.

The companies include Weet-Bix maker Sanitarium Health Food Company, Norco, canned fruit giant SPC, nut spread and snack producer Mayver's Foods, and Sunshine Sugar.

Mayver's Food CEO Bethaney George said customers want more information about their food and where it comes from.

"There's mass confusion. A lot of consumers don't understand that we are family-owned and Australian-made," she said.

Consumer insights expert Cori Hodge echoed that sentiment.

"[Consumers] are looking for that information. They want to support local, but finding where those profits go is a really difficult information search," she said.

"That's something that the industry is not really delivering right now."

Benefits back home

The Norco research, which was conducted in May 2024 across all states and territories, found 30 per cent of respondents have increased their support for Australian brands and products over the past two years, even if they cost more.

Mr Hampson said just because a product is Australian-made and owned does not mean it is more expensive.

"If you look at the supermarket shelves there's a lot of Australian-owned companies [whose] products are in larger pack sizes and selling for a lower per unit shelf price," he said.

The food coalition believes supporting Australian-owned puts profit back into the nation.

Sanitarium Health Food Company executive general manager Todd Saunders said he did not want there to be confusion over Sanitarium's Australian ownership.

"It's important that we support our local suppliers and it's important that the profits of Australian-owned companies are reinvested in the community," he said.

"Australian-made is good, but Australian-made and owned is great. And that's the conversation we want to start today."