Coles customers have roasted the supermarket giant for ditching a popular Aussie grown product with an imported variety packed in Vietnam.
The Coles home brand packets of unsalted peanuts once proudly boasted the nuts were grown in Australia and roasted in sunny Queensland.
“You can’t go wrong with an Australian favourite snack,” the packaging said.
“Product of Australia.”
But all that has been removed to advise consumers the “crowd favourite” product is now “packed in Vietnam.”
Customers were quick to notice the change and expressed their disappointment on social media with one consumer saying the packaging had “been made to deliberately look as close as possible to the Australian product.”
“It is not clear either – it just says ‘packed in Vietnam’ – are the peanuts grown and roasted there? Or are they from somewhere else? We don’t know because it doesn’t say,” one user wrote.
Another person said they lived near the peanut farming district in Kingaroy, Queensland and there was no way they would eat imported peanuts.
“Our local industry employs hundreds of people. Buy Kingaroy peanuts people,” they said.
“I’m not near Kingaroy but I am in Queensland and am a Queensland peanut loyalist.”
Another customer commented that they bought the Coles peanuts because they had a dark roast flavour, but noticed they were unavailable recently.
“Now they’re back (and) they taste just like every other brand. This must be why,” they said.
“Exactly – the Queensland grown peanuts were bloody excellent. We are similarly disappointed in our household they have disappeared,” a person responded.
“That’s also how I noticed they were imported, when the flavour of nuts from the new pack was non-existent.
“Immediately checking the pack confirmed my suspicion. I know it’s wasteful but I had to throw the rest away. Doing that was as detestable as the bait and switch by Coles. They’ve only reinforced the mistrust I have for them.”
A Coles spokesperson said they were proud to offer the largest Own Brand range in Australia across a range of price points, and they were seeing value-conscious customers switching into Own Brand alternatives in a range of categories.
“We assess a variety of factors when sourcing Coles Own Brand Unsalted Peanuts including shape, level of roast, taste and crunch,” the spokesperson said.
“The change in sourcing was due to improved quality and is part of our commitment to deliver great quality products to our customers.”
The National Farming Federation have been contacted for comment.