Bought 'Australian-grown' tomato products? Tests reveal their true origin

Independent forensic testing has uncovered discrepancies in the country-of-origin labeling for several popular tomato products sold in Australia. Dozens of tomato paste and passata products, which prominently advertised their origins as Australian or Italian, have been scientifically proven to be sourced from China.

The investigation, conducted by forensic laboratory Source Certain, analyzed 221 processed tomato products from 39 brands. The results showed that 22% of the products failed country-of-origin testing, with all of these originating from China. Alarmingly, 53% of the failed products were traced back to the Xinjiang region, an area internationally scrutinized for alleged forced labor practices.

Major Australian brands and supermarkets are among those implicated. Leggo's, a prominent tomato brand owned by US food giant Simplot, had a significant majority of its tested tomato paste products mislabeled as "Australian grown" when their tomatoes were found to be from China. Coles's "Italian" tomato paste and Aldi's home brand Remano paste also failed the tests.

These findings emerge at a sensitive time, particularly concerning the products linked to Xinjiang. The United States has banned tomato product imports from Xinjiang due to forced labor concerns, though China denies these allegations. Australia currently does not have a ban on products made with forced labor, making these revelations particularly pertinent to discussions around ethical sourcing and consumer transparency.