About country of origin labelling for food

Country of origin labelling tells your customers which country (or countries) your food product comes from. That helps them make decisions about which products to buy.

Country of origin labels are required for most food sold in shops and other retail settings in Australia.

The Country of Origin Food Labelling Information Standard 2016 sets out the rules for country of origin food labelling. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) administers the Information Standard and can help you with any questions about these rules.

Whether or not your food product needs a country of origin label depends on:

• where it will be sold
• whether it is packaged or unpackaged.

Our interactive tool can tell you if your product needs a country of origin label.

Place of sale

Retail settings

Most food sold in a retail setting in Australia needs a country of origin label. Some examples of retail settings are:

• supermarkets
• other stores
• markets
• online
• vending machines.

Food sold in the same premises it was made and packed does not need a country of origin label. For example, bread sold at the bakery where it was made.

Other settings

Food sold in non-retail settings does not need a country of origin label.

For example, you don’t need a label for food sold at:

• restaurants
• cafes
• takeaways or food trucks
• canteens or schools
• fundraising events.

You can still use a country of origin label on food sold in non-retail settings if you want to. If you choose to do this, you must follow the country of origin labelling rules to create and display your label.

Packaging

All packaged food sold at retail needs a country of origin label.

These unpackaged retail foods also need a label:

• fruits and vegetables (including fungi such as mushrooms)
• nuts, seeds and legumes
• herbs and spices
• fish, shellfish and other seafood
• meat from cows, sheep, pigs or chickens
• mixes of any of these foods.

Other types of unpackaged foods do not need a country of origin label. You can still label these products if you want to, but you must follow the country of origin labelling rules to create and display your label.

There are 2 types of country of origin labels:

• standard mark
• country of origin statement.

The type of label your food product needs depends on whether it:

• was grown, produced, made or packed in Australia
• is a priority or non-priority food under the country of origin rules.

Our interactive tool can tell you what type of label your food product needs.

Standard mark

A standard mark is a label with:

• a bar chart showing the percentage of Australian ingredients
• text explaining the origin of the product and its ingredients in more detail
• a kangaroo logo, but only if the product was grown, produced or made in Australia
• a clearly defined box around this information.

A standard mark is required for priority foods grown, produced, made or packed in Australia. 

Examples of standard marks:

A country of origin statement is simple text explaining where a food product came from. For example, ‘made in China’ or ‘product of Norway’. It does not include a bar chart or kangaroo logo.

Non-priority foods and most imported foods require a country of origin statement. Labels for packaged priority foods must have a box around the statement.

Example of a country of origin statement:

If you’d rather create a label yourself, the ACCC has a detailed guide on complying with the labelling rules.

Use our EPS or PDF templates to create your own standard mark or country of origin statement. To edit these files you need software such as Adobe Illustrator (for EPS files) or Adobe Acrobat Pro (for PDF files).

Once you’ve created your label, you need to display it correctly on your product and other materials.

Some of the main requirements:

• You must size and colour your label so that all components of the label are legible.
• A clearly defined box is required around standard marks, as well as country of origin statements for packaged priority foods.
• Packaged foods must have the label on each individual product. It can be anywhere on the product packaging.
• Unpackaged foods can either have the label on the product or placed nearby (for example, on a sign).