Dominos, Pizza Hut use American cheese over Australian dairy

Some of Australia’s biggest pizza chains are importing shiploads of American cheese instead of sourcing dairy from Aussie farmers. Our graphic reveals the figures.

American cheese is increasingly being used on Australian pizzas with some of the nation’s biggest chains opting for US over homegrown produce.

The Weekly Times surveyed 10 of the nation’s biggest pizza makers – from takeaway titans such as Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Crust to frozen labels such as McCain and Dr Oetker.

Many including the companies behind Pizza Hut, La Porchetta and Bubba Pizza kept quiet when contacted about the origin of their cheese.

Some others — notably the Dr Oetker and Papa Giuseppi brands — import frozen pizzas from far-flung Canada and Germany, with all ingredients foreign sourced.

But Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett said most chains use American cheese, freezed and shipped across the Pacific to Australian outlets.

“It’s one of the worst-kept secrets in Australian food — that American cheese is being dumped by the shipload onto pizzas for Australians,” he said.

“Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Crust — there’s a reason why they keep quiet about where their cheese is from. I think a lot of Australians would be rightly outraged that these pizza companies are using American cheese rather than giving Australian farmers a fair go.”

One of the few pizza giants to answer questions was Domino’s — which is Australia’s largest pizza outlet with more than 700 shopfronts nationw

A spokeswoman for Domino’s said the company were “proud to partner with the world’s leading mozzarella supplier”, US-based Leprino Foods.

“In September 2023, Domino’s announced it would extend its 10-plus year global partnership with Leprino to deliver cheese for more than 260 million pizzas and other menu offerings each year, from world-class production facilities based in America and the UK, into Europe and the Asia-Pacific,” the spokeswoman said.

“Additionally, Domino’s is committed to partnering with local Australian companies where possible, such as Real Dairy Australia, for the supply of cheese, including feta and paneer which is used to top some of our most popular pizzas like the Vegorama and Spicy Peppy Paneer.”

Retail Food Group chief marketing officer Tanya Watt said “circa 90 per cent of the cheese used” by Crust and Pizza Capers was Australian made and sourced.

“The balance is sourced from the USA,” she said.

“This cheese is used for a specific product line and is not currently available in Australia despite trying multiple major manufacturers.

“While we have no formal policy regarding cheese procurement, Australian provenance is an important aspect of our evaluation criteria when sourcing cheese.

“Dairy as a general category continues to be impacted by inflationary pressures globally and we work closely with our suppliers to manage this.

In the frozen pizza sector, McCain and Della Rosa make their pizza in Australia while rival Dr Oetker and its subsidiary brand Papa Giuseppi manufacturer their frozen offerings in Canada and Germany.

McCain Foods corporate affairs director Mark Roberts said the company aimed to “source ingredients for all our products locally.”

“Our pizza products use Australian cheese,” he said.

“Cheese prices have increased in recent years due to continued contraction in the Australian milk supply to the lowest level in three decades, while higher production costs and inflation have increased overall cheese costs.”