Australian owned supermarket guide

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Tracking down locally grown products in the supermarket and from Australian companies can be difficult.

Only 15 per cent of items on the supermarket shelves are true blue Australian ingredients from 100 per cent Australian owned companies.

IGA supermarket owner, Warren Mason, said it is difficult for consumers to spot the Australian products.

"Approximately 85 per cent of the products in the supermarkets are made overseas or made by companies that are owned by overseas interests," he said.

Today Tonight is supporting the Fightback for Australia campaign, which is aimed at caring for Australian farmers and protecting local jobs.

To help consumers have the option to buy Australian, there is a new method of spotting the locally made and owned products.

They are shelf labels in IGA supermarkets alerting shoppers to products which are Australian and an Aussie Owned Brands Supermarket Guide which lists thousands of Australian products in their categories.

Mr Mason said the shelf labels you will see in most IGA supermarkets and the Guide allow shoppers to find the Australian product instantly.

"To get the shelf tickets you need to have an Australian made and owned product," he said.

"It's not good enough to be Australian manufactured, it has to be made and locally owned."

Mike Rogers from Fightback Australia said it is not just the mammoth foreign companies that have taken over much of our food industry.

He said Coles and Woolworths' new private label products are flooding the shelves and knocking out the Aussie competition.

"You certainly can't tell these days which is Australian and which is not," he said.

"The generic ranges coming in from overseas for the Coles and Woolworths private labels are absolutely wrecking the industry because they are taking away Aussie jobs."

Canned fruit can be from South Africa, China and Thailand with peas, beans and carrots from Belgium while tinned tomatoes come from Italy.

In tinned fruit and vegies there are a lot of imported products but the Aussie ones are clearly marked on the shelf.

Mr Rogers said local companies keep the profits in Australia.

"You don't have to strain your eyes trying to read the labels," he said.

"The sticker tells you immediately the product is Australian owned and grown."

Get the guide

Download the guide here.