South Australian culinary icon Maggie Beer has been caught out by a consumer watchdog’s investigation into product labelling.

A range of Maggie Beer products marketed as “made in South Australia” were made interstate.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the place of origin representations were on labels attached to “Maggie Beer” branded ice cream (all flavours), aged red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and rosemary and verjuice biscuits.

However, the products are manufactured by third parties in Victoria and Queensland.

ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said that while Maggie Beeer had cooperated with the investigation and changed its labels, place of origin claims were a serious issue.

“Consumers are often willing to pay premium prices for local products and businesses are following consumer demand by stocking local goods,” he said.

“Protecting the integrity of credence claims made about food products is a priority enforcement area for the ACCC.

“The Barossa Valley is a nationally recognised premium food and wine destination, and businesses in that region use place of origin claims to promote or distinguish their product from others in the market.

“Misleading representations about the origin of products to capitalise on this demand undermines the integrity of credence claims which are relied on by consumers and, equally important, can harm competing producers whose products are made locally.”

Maggie Beer and her company, Maggie Beer Products Pty Ltd, issued a statement today confirming it had accepted a court enforceable undertaking for misleading customers.

Beer said that the investigation served as a wake-up call for her regarding accurate labelling and she has urged fellow manufacturers to carefully consider each message that is sent to consumers on product labels.

“I fully support the ACCC’s interpretation on provenance in food labelling,” Beer said.

“All four of these products originally were made in South Australia but, as Maggie Beer Products grew to supply larger markets, we were unable to find suitable South Australian suppliers for four of our product lines.

“In these four instances our labels, while  fully compliant with Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) labelling laws, did not reflect the ACCC’s interpretation of provenance in labelling.

“We acted immediately when the ACCC drew this to our attention.

“Maggie Beer customers can be 100 percent sure on the provenance of the food that we offer.

“I apologise to anyone who may in the past have been misled in any way. It’s the last thing I would want to do.”

The labelling issue is the second this year for the Beer family.

In June the ACCC found Maggie’s daughter, Saskia Beer, was misleading consumers by using white pig meat in her black pig small-goods range.

Saskia, the sole director of Barossa Farm Produce Pty Ltd, had “contravened consumer law between 2010 and 2013 for stating on product labels that the pork in the range was from heritage Berkshire pigs”, when this was not the case.

Saskia Beer said she was responsible and apologised.

“This is an isolated instance that arose as a result of miscommunication on the part of our supplier and a failure on our part to adequately verify, in this instance, the source of the product,” she said.

“There was no intention to mislead or misrepresent in any way the origin of the product.”