IT BEGAN with an anonymous tip-off and ended with Australia's largest producer of smallgoods being issued with a record fine for labelling foreign bacon as ''Product of Australia''.

Primo was yesterday fined $233,625 and ordered to pay $200,000 in legal costs after pleading guilty to 45 charges of misleading conduct and 18 breaches relating to its failure to keep proper records.

The NSW Food Authority had conducted a surprise inspection of Primo's Chullora premises in January 2008 after an anonymous complaint that Danish and Canadian bacon was being labelled as Australian meat.

It was discovered foreign pig products were being placed into packaging also labelled ''100% Australian made'' and ''Meat Content 100% Australian''.

Based on Primo's own daily production documents, the NSW Food Authority claims that up to 100 tonnes of bacon - or 200,000 packets of sandwich pork - was mislabelled.