The competition watchdog says many Australian consumers who thought they were buying free range pork products from pigs raised outdoors have been misled.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 27 seconds 3 m 27 s ACCC chairman Rod Sims says consumers buying free range pork products have been misled. Download 6.3 MB

The pork industry is the latest to come under the spotlight of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) crackdown on truth in food labelling.

ACCC chairman, Rod Sims, said an investigation found pork products from Primo Smallgoods, KR Castlemaine, and Otway Pork labelled as "free range" and "bred free range" were misleading as the pigs were raised indoors.

"We found that often the sows as it were, the mother of the pigs, was indeed free range, but the piglet and then the pig that was eventually slaughtered to create the pork, was largely living indoors in a barn," he said.

"So, the label was if you like, attaching to the sow, but the piglet itself was reared in the barn.

"Certainly we felt that terms like 'free range' or ' bred free range' or 'bred outdoors' would lead consumers to think that the pork they were eating came from pigs who were outside most of the time, when in fact that wasn't the case."

Genuine free range farmers disadvantaged

Mr Sims said mislabelling misled consumers and also disadvantaged genuine free range pork producers.

"They're competing with people who aren't raising their pigs in a free range environment and of course it's much more expensive to do so," he said.

"The ACCC also recommended that peak industry group, Australian Pork Limited, change the title and logo of one of its production standards from "Outdoor Bred" to "Outdoor Bred. Raised indoors on straw."

The commission said that would make it clearer to consumers that the pigs were born outdoors, but raised indoors from weaning to slaughter.

In a statement, Australian Pork Limited said it had accepted the ACCC's recommendation and said it would improve clarity to consumers on exactly how the product they were buying was raised.