Wednesday 28 September 2022 04:20 AM Truth about Bega and Sanitarium peanut butter trends now Beloved Aussie brands, including Bega and Sanitarium, are marketing products as being '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 per cent Australian ingredients, with one famous label containing no Australian products whatsoever, despite peanuts being grown in Australia. Beloved brands including Bega and Sanitarium are marketing products as being 'Made in Australia' despite containing little to no homegrown ingredients Sanitarium contains no Australian ingredients in its popular peanut butter spread Sanitarium Peanut butter spreads made by Sanitarium contain no Australian ingredients, despite carrying the made in Australia symbol on its packaging. In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, Sanitarium said there weren't enough peanut farmers in Australia to 'meet demand'. 'To ensure a consistent year-round supply of Sanitarium peanut butters, we need to source peanuts from overseas,' a spokesperson said. 'Country of Origin labelling was introduced a number of years back to provide consumers with information about where ingredients are sourced. 'This label appears on Sanitarium peanut butters, providing consumers with full transparency that the peanuts we use are not sourced in Australia. However, our claim that the product is 'Made in Australia' remains accurate.' The popular peanut butter contains no ingredients produced in Australia and the lowest percentage of peanut butter in the market Bega's traditional smooth, light and chunky spreads contain less than 10 per cent Australian products Bega The levels of Aussie ingredients in Bega spreads remain extremely low. Its traditional smooth, light and chunky spreads contain less than 10 per cent Australian products, with the exact number not known. Below the small label Bega have even included an explanation for the low figure, saying a lack of peanut farmers in Australia are to blame. 'Australians eat more peanuts than our local industry can supply! We're currently working with our Aussie farmers to grow more peanuts,' Bega say its on its packaging. Bega offers another peanut butter product called Simply Nuts, which comes in a different green packaging and contains 100 per cent Australian ingredients. Bega's traditional smooth, light and chunky spreads contain less than 10 per cent Australian products - with the exact number not known Bega's website doesn't mention sourcing its ingredients from overseas but instead focuses on where it is manufactured. 'We're dedicated to crafting Australia's favourite Peanut Butter. We're the peanut experts, and we only source the best Hi-Oleic peanuts, rich in good fats, for the freshest roasted peanut taste to make the best peanut butter products for all of Australia,' its website reads. 'Our original Bega peanut butter has been made in Port Melbourne for over 55 years, with the same recipe to consistently deliver the roasted peanut taste Australians love.' A spokesperson for Bega noted the difficult conditions Australia poses for producing peanuts and said it had 'temporarily' reduced its Aussie ingredients. 'Aussie peanut farmers faced a tough season in 2019 due to challenging growing conditions in Queensland, driven by drought in several key growing regions,' a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. 'Therefore, we have made the decision to temporarily reduce the percentage of Australian peanuts in our Bega Peanut Butter products. While this decision may be disappointing to some – we're hoping that this reduction is temporary.' It underlined its ambitions to help grow the peanut industry in Australia and said its Simply Nuts product provides a 100 per cent Australian ingredient alternative. Macro - Woolworths Despite displaying the 'Made in Australia' text and logo, Macro peanut butter sources 100 per cent of its peanuts from overseas. Macro is particularly popular with vegans as the item contains no ingredients from animals. It also offers the most expensive option on the market, priced at $6 for 375grams. Woolworths said it was looking to work with farmers to ensure the peanut industry in Australia could be restored. Woolworth's Macro peanut butter contains no peanuts from Australia 'We work with hundreds of Australian suppliers and aim to source local ingredients where we can. However Australian peanut supply is currently limited across the entire market,' a spokesperson said. 'All our own brand food products feature the Australian Government's Country of Origin labelling, which is strictly regulated. 'The system provides clear labelling to help customers make an informed choice, explicitly identifying products that use 100 per cent Australian ingredients, and those that are made in Australia from local or imported ingredients. 'Across our own brand food products, 75 per cent are made in Australia to support local manufacturing and jobs, and many of them include Australian grown ingredients.' Australia's dry climate makes it difficult for farmers to grow peanuts without having to pay exorbitant amounts on water Why many peanut butter spreads contain so few Australian ingredients? The peanuts Australians consume each year primarily come from foreign farms, with an estimated 70 per cent imported into the country each year. The peanut butter industry is attempting to work with farmers to help resolve the issue. Peanuts need a significant amount of water to be harvested, with Australia's dry, arid lands offering a roadblock. Bega GM Adam McNamara says they are continuing to work with farmers to attempt to bring the trade back to Aussie shores. 'Our ambition as a great Australian food company is to really increase the level of Australian peanuts and become less reliant on imported peanuts,' Bega Foods Mr McNamara said. The company's processing facility is in Kingaroy, once Australia's peanut home. It produced nuts using dryland crops, however, 2020 saw the first season on record where no peanuts were produced, thanks in part to the scorching summer, which saw large parts of the east coast destroyed by bushfires. It's believed granting farmers more access to irrigation water could help the industry, with growers urging the government to provide more options. 'The key thing for growers is for them to have options, as we know seasons are variable and I think we're able to try and provide growers with different options for different planting windows and also different rain events or climatic conditions,' Bega plant breeder Dan O'Connor told the ABC. All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility