Australian chocolate: Cadbury, Nestle and Mars unclear on how much of their produce is Australian made

Thought your favourite chocolate was Australian made? Well, think again. The biggest names in sweet treats don’t necessarily make their produce in Australia using homegrown milk.

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Is your chocolate made in Australia? It seems when it comes to identifying what country your treats come from, the answer is less than sweet.

The big three on Australian supermarket shelves — Cadbury, Nestle and Mars — have always been in foreign hands, although the treat-making trio mainly made their bars and blocks locally for domestic consumption.

But times have changed and it's becoming less clear how much Australian dairy is being pumped into the nation’s chocolate production lines.

Mars used to manufacture most of its chocolate for Australian consumption at its Ballarat factory but management changes have led to consumers checking the back of their wrapper this year.

Mars bars and Maltesers are still made in Australia but other brands on the Mars line are made abroad. 

Snickers bars made in China are currently being sold in Australia, as are Twix bars made in Egypt and Bounty bars made in The Netherlands.

Last year, The Weekly Times asked a Mars representative how much Australian dairy was in domestic and internationally-made bars but a clear response was not issued.

“Unfortunately due to commercial sensitivity Mars is unable to disclose information on their suppliers,” Mars spokeswoman Chenny Wulandari said.

Cadbury Australia, owned by US food giant Mondelēz International, has a grab bag of Australian favourites including Cherry Ripe and Freddo Frog — acquired five decades ago from Melbourne manufacturer MacRobertsons.

The Weekly Times asked Cadbury which of its bars were made in Australia and which were concocted abroad.

However, Mondelēz International spokesman Jake Hatton declined to directly respond, only to note that Cadbury Dairy Milk, its most popular line, was still made in Australia.

“We proudly source most of our milk for Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate from Tasmanian farmers that we’ve partnered with for many years,” he said.

“We have our own dairy processing site in Burnie which processes almost 100 million litres of milk each year that ends up going into the Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate we make at our factory in Claremont, Hobart.”

“We’ve been making Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate in Australia for 98 years, and Aussie milk is a key reason for it being Australia’s favourite chocolate.”

Nestle corporate affairs manager Sally Strautins said dairy produce contained in popular products such as KitKat and Milky Bars were sourced from both Australian and NZ dairy producers.

“For the chocolate that we manufacture in our Campbellfield factory and the products we make in our Melbourne and Sydney KitKat Chocolatory, we use milk powder that is sourced from New Zealand and Australia — across the east coast dairy country,” she said.

“Cocoa butter is used in our products which is sourced from cocoa growing regions."

Violet Crumble, originally made by Australian manufacturer Hoadleys, was in Nestle hands for decades, but the rights to make the honeycomb bar were sold by the Swiss giant to Australian-owned manufacturer Robern Menz two years ago.

Other chocolate brands on Australian shelves include NZ brand Whittakers, which is made at Porirua, near Wellington, with New Zealand milk.

Mondelez-owned Green & Black is made in France and packaged in Germany, with milk sourced from Eurozone nations.

Ernest Hillier’s Chocolates, one of Australia’s first chocolate brands, has been owned by British financier Recapital since 2014. Its chocolates are made in Melbourne, although Hilliers does not disclose on its website where its milk is sourced.

Australian Dairyfarmers Federation president Terry Richardson said: “ Manufacturers have a responsibility to clearly mark on their packaging where the ingredients for their products are sourced. 

"Consumers deserve to know whether the chocolate they are eating is made using local cream and butter so that they can make informed decisions.”

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