NINETY-NINE per cent of people are baffled by country of origin labels when shopping, a new survey shows.
The Choice survey showed 99 per cent of respondents don't have a good understanding of what the "Made in Australia" label means despite many wanting to buy locally made and grown products.
According to the 900 people surveyed, almost half wanted to buy Australian products when the option was available.
People were asked to explain their understanding of "Made in Australia", "Made in Australia from imported and local ingredients", "Product of Australia" and "Australian grown" labels.
The results show 68 per cent of people understand the label "Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients" but 85 per cent of people wanted to know where the imported ingredient was from.
More than a third of people wanted the label to be broken down to include the origin of each item in the product.
Choice spokeswoman Ingrid Just said people wanted clearer, more informative country of origin labels that detailed where the main ingredient came from.
"In their current form, the country of origin labels are just too confusing," Ms Just said."Shoppers want to support local producers by buying foods grown and produced here but in many instances the labels are not helping them do that."
AUSVEG communications and public affairs manager William Churchill said the survey's results mirrored what growers had told the peak body about what consumers wanted.
"Ultimately the consumers want well-identified produce at the supermarket," Mr Churchill said.
He said the supermarkets had "reacted to the issue" after being named and shamed last week for incorrectly labelling the origin of fresh produce.
"Woolies outlined their policy but it doesn't go far enough. Ideally we'd want display bins of Australian produce and imported produce . . . like Chinese apples and Australian apples, so people can make an informed choice," he said.
