Coles has come under fire over a “sneaky” change to a popular everyday buy.
Sharing on Reddit, one disgruntled customer pointed out the supermarket giant’s own brand of Unsalted Peanuts were now a product of Vietnam instead of Australia.
Photos posted by the shopper showed that the new packets have changed from being labelled Coles Australian Unsalted Peanuts to now being called Coles Roasted Unsalted Peanuts.
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In smaller type, the old packs said the peanuts were “Grown in sunny Queensland, then dried and roasted”. On the new variety, it simply states “Crunchy unsalted roasted peanuts”.
The two packets are identical in look and design, apart from the very subtle changes.
On the back of the bags, the new variety say they are “Packed in Vietnam” while the old packets say they are a “Product of Australia”.
“Coles — same price, now product of Vietnam,” the eagle-eyed customer wrote on Reddit.
A Coles spokesperson has told 7NEWS.com.au “the change in sourcing was due to improved quality” (see full statement below).
However many Reddit users have disputed this claim, saying the new variety of peanuts from Vietnam fell short.
“I used to buy these Coles peanuts because they had a dark roast flavour that surpassed a lot of other supermarket-sold peanuts, but noticed they were unavailable recently and now they’re back they taste just like every other brand. This must be why,” one wrote.
Another said: “Exactly — the Queensland grown peanuts were bloody excellent. We are similarly disappointed in our household they have disappeared.”
A third wrote: “I live near Kingaroy. Queensland. Ain’t no way I am eating imported peanuts. Our local industry employs hundreds of people. Buy Kingaroy peanuts people.”
One more added: “This is utterly f*****. I used to go out of my way to go to Coles for these because Woolies only sells ones from China. The fact they’ve been sneaky c**** about the packaging on top only makes it worse.”
Many agreed that the subtle change in packaging was frustrating, and could be easily missed.
“See now THIS is a genuine Colesworth complaint. The packaging has been made to deliberately look as close as possible to the Australian product and it’s 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 cos it doesn’t say,” one responded.
Another added: “Unfortunately the majority of people don’t read the product, so they have done everything they can to make it look the same. More profit for an inferior product and people will likely just keep buying them without noticing.”
Others said they were concerned by the ambiguity of the term “packed in Vietnam”.
“These say ‘packed in’ Vietnam not ‘product of’. A common way to hide where they’re actually from. Probably think we won’t like the answer,” one Reddit user stated.
Another responded: “FYI — packed in Vietnam highly likely means Chinese product, but they pack it in Vietnam so they don’t have to declare ‘Product of China’. Same with frozen vegetables ‘packed in New Zealand’. It’s a legal strategy that all food companies know about and use when needed.”
One more wrote: “Go out of your way to buy Australian peanuts for multiple reasons.
“Peanuts are at risk of aflatoxin which is a fungus that is carcinogenic. Mitigation for this risk is built into the entire Australian supply chain from the farm onwards, and the risk is effectively zero for Australian peanuts.
“The two products in your photo are NOT the same thing!”
Coles responds
A Coles spokesperson said the move was made after considering several factors
“We are proud to offer the largest Own Brand range in Australia across a range of price points, and we are seeing value-conscious customers switching into Own Brand alternatives in a range of categories,” the spokesperson said.
“We assess a variety of factors when sourcing Coles Own Brand Unsalted Peanuts including shape, level of roast, taste and crunch. The change in sourcing was due to improved quality and is part of our commitment to deliver great quality products to our customers.”