Born Free - Barn Raised in Tasmania for superior taste

Is your Ham Australian?

05 October 2020

We all know bacon (and ham!) makes everything better - but do you know where your bacon is coming from?

Fortunately, Australia does not allow import of fresh pork products. This means that all fresh pork you buy was grown in Australia. However, it may surprise you to find that the majority of ham and bacon sold in Australia - around 75% - is made from imported pork!

If you're after cheap bacon, you'll get what you pay for - factory farmed pork, probably pumped full of water and chemicals to make the meat retain water. That's why you'll sometimes get a pool of liquid in your frying pan.

CoOL (Country of Origin) Labelling - that's the green and gold kangaroo logo you can find on products made in Australia - can be very confusing.

This only shows that the product was made in Australia, not necessarily made using Australian grown pork. The product can be made from imported pork and still use this image on it's label.

Anything made from less than 60% Australian ingredients is most likely made from imported pork.

There is unfortunately no requirement to say which ingredients are in fact Australian - the 15% Australian content in the image to the left (not Scottsdale Pork) is definitely not the pork!

Scottsdale Pork ham and Bacon doesn't have a completely full bar chart (see below) - you'll be unlikely to find any that does. This is because the brines and salts used in the curing and smoking processes are not produced in Australia.

Logo showing kangaroo inside triangle to indicate country of origin

For our fresh pork products - like Scottsdale Pork roasts, steaks, chops, and fillets, you'll see below that the bar chart is full, showing 100% Australian grown - nothing is added to them, it's just natural Tasmanian pork.

Country of origin Grown in Australia label

If it's important to you to support Australian farmers, check the label to make sure your ham and bacon is made from pork grown in Australia.

Or just buy Scottsdale Pork - you can rest assured you'll be buying products made from pork raised under some of the highest welfare, safety and environmental standards in the world!

Now you know how to choose the perfect ham - here are some tips and tricks to cook it to perfection