Maggie Beer apologises after getting a roasting from consumer watchdog ACCC over misleading labels on some ‘Barossa’ products made interstate

STATE Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis has come to Maggie Beer’s support after she was “horrified” to learn customers may have been misled by labelling on some products from her Barossa-based company.

STATE Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis has come to an apologetic Maggie Beer’s support after she was “horrified” to learn customers might have been misled by the labelling on some products from her Barossa-based company.

Consumer watchdog the ACCC has found that ice-cream, olive oil, biscuits and vinegar released under the Maggie Beer brand might have misrepresented their place of origin.

The celebrity chef has apologised to customers who might have been misled by the labelling.

However, a late night tweet from state Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said: “Maggie Beer would never intentionally mislead her customers. She’s a great Australian who’s done so much for SA, the Barossa Slow Food.”

The much-loved celebrity cook said “it just didn’t enter my head” that people might have got the wrong impression.

The ruling relates to the words on the label “Maggie Beer A Barossa Food Tradition” and also to the use of a company address in Tanunda.

The ice cream, extra virgin olive oil and rosemary and verjuice biscuits are all manufactured by third parties in Victoria, while the company’s aged red wine vinegar is manufactured in Queensland.

Ms Beer said that the ACCC had first raised the issue about eight months ago and she had taken immediate steps to clarify the situation on the company website.

“I didn’t see this coming,” she said. “I’m horrified that I might have misled anyone, because there was never a moment’s thought that I had done that. Now it has been brought to my attention I have done something about it.

“It’s not easy to take a blow and have some people thinking you have misled them.”

Ms Beer said the four lines were among 200 products distributed by the company and all started with a Barossa food tradition of making the most of local ingredients.

“They all start in the kitchen here with me, under my direction, from my ideas. It (manufacturing) only goes outside of the Barossa or SA when I get to a brick wall about equipment.

“I’m so proud of everything we do. I wish we could have kept it all within SA. But I’m using local ingredients wherever I can.”

The chairman of the ACCC, Rod Sims, said protecting the integrity of origin labelling was vital.

“Consumers are often willing to pay premium prices for local products and businesses are following consumer demand by stocking local goods. Protecting the integrity of credence claims made about food products is a priority enforcement area for the ACCC,” he said.

“The Barossa Valley is a nationally recognised premium food and wine destination, and businesses in that region use place of origin claims to promote or distinguish their product from others in the market.

“Misleading representations about the origin of products to capitalise on this demand undermines the integrity of credence claims which are relied on by consumers and, equally important, can harm competing producers whose products are made locally.”

Maggie Beer Products has cooperated with the ACCC’s investigation and, as part of the undertaking, has agreed to remove its original tagline “A Barossa Food Tradition” from its logo so that the place of manufacture for products made outside of South Australia is made clear to consumers.

“I fully support the ACCC’s interpretation on provenance in food labelling,” Ms Beer said.

“All four of these products originally were made in South Australia but, as Maggie Beer Products grew to supply larger markets, we were unable to find suitable South Australian suppliers for four of our product lines.”

“In these four instances our labels, while fully compliant with Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) labelling laws, did not reflect the ACCC’s interpretation of provenance in labelling.

“We acted immediately when the ACCC drew this to our attention. Maggie Beer customers can be 100 per cent sure on the provenance of the food that we offer. I apologise to anyone who may in the past have been misled in any way.”