When you\u2019re strolling through the supermarket aisle, grabbing what you think is locally made bacon or ham, you may not realize that you’re actually picking up imported pork. With Christmas around the corner, Aussie shoppers are being urged to double-check the labels on their meat products as misleading details are causing confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australians are being misled by the common \u201cAustralian-made\u201d logo that appears on many supermarket meat products. While this logo signals that a product was processed, packaged, or cooked in Australia, it doesn\u2019t mean that the meat was actually raised here. In fact, up to 70% of the bacon and ham sold on supermarket shelves comes from imported pork, much of it from countries like the US and Europe. That\u2019s a huge chunk of the product that\u2019s made overseas, and many shoppers are shocked to learn the truth. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Margo Andrae, CEO of Australian Pork Limited (APL), explained that shoppers would likely be appalled if they knew how much of the pork used in their beloved Christmas ham came from other countries. It\u2019s not so much about the higher price tag of Australian pork, which now only costs about $1 more per kilo than imported options, but the fact that consumers think they\u2019re supporting local farmers when they\u2019re actually not.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it\u2019s about choice, and shoppers knowing what they\u2019re really buying<\/em>,\u201d Andrae said to Yahoo News.<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s just not a fair playing field when cheap imports undercut Australian farmers<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n