The New South Wales Fair Trading Minister has stepped in to stop baby formula being stripped off shelves and sold with massive mark ups overseas.
Minister Matt Kean has announced his office will investigate to ensure Australian parents have access to baby formula.
‘I’ve asked my department to look at exactly what they can do to make sure parents can get this product at a fair price,’ Minister Kean told 7 News on Friday.
The announcement comes just days after video emerged of ‘crazy’ shoppers at a Melbourne Coles buying milk formula in bulk.
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NSW Fair Trading Minister Matt Kean has announced his office will ensure Australian parents have access to baby formula
Hannah Dixon (pictured) filmed a wild storm of shoppers scrambling for precious tins of baby milk formula described the scene as ‘crazy’
Shoppers were filmed greedily filling their shopping baskets straight from a trolley stocked with the formula at a Melbourne Coles (pictured)
‘It was just chaos, they were going through collecting their items … just sprinting backwards and forwards,’ Ms Dixon said
Hannah Dixon filmed the frenzy of about 20 shoppers snapping up tins of formula before staff can even stack it on the shelves on Wednesday.
The Asian shoppers told Ms Dixon off for filming the mayhem however she continued to film, shocked they were abusing the system.
‘It was just chaos, they were going through collecting their items … just sprinting backwards and forwards,’ Ms Dixon told A Current Affair.
‘They seemed to be working together, they all had the same system.’
Ms Dixon filmed the huge line of Asian shoppers waiting to fill their baskets with tins of baby formula, telling them she knew it was legal, but ‘it was wrong’.
‘There were workers telling them to stop running … it was a hazard to the other customers,’ she said.
‘I’ve asked my department to look at exactly what they can do to make sure parents can get this product at a fair price,’ Minister Kean said
Ms Dixon filmed the huge line of Asian shoppers waiting to fill their baskets with tins of baby formula, telling them she knew it was legal, but ‘it was wrong’
‘I was shocked at first … I thought there were people trying to steal things.’
A quarter of all Australian baby milk formula is purchased by Chinese agents and sold at pop ups around the nation, or online to China, 7 News reports.
Many major supermarkets have been forced to set a limit of four per customer, however crowds of Asian shoppers buy four tins and then return to buy more shortly after.
‘It’s a massive loop hole they were getting through,’ Ms Dixon told the network.
Ms Dixon said the shoppers were doing the rounds, buying four tins per the store limit before coming back and buying more
There is a nationwide shortage of baby formula prompting supermarkets to set a customer limit
Several annoyed shoppers told Ms Dixon she wasn’t allowed to film them because she didn’t have their permission.
‘I understand, it’s just wrong,’ Ms Dixon said in the video.
‘They’re just doing the rounds, they’re going through checkouts and coming back all over again.’
In the video shared to Coles’ Facebook page, a Coles staff member can be heard telling Ms Dixon they have a ‘four per person limit’ and had more formula ‘out the back for other customers’.
‘You’re cheating the system though,’ Ms Dixon told the Asian shoppers.
Coles said they were committed to ensuring their ‘genuine’ customers had access to baby formula
‘As we are currently experiencing unprecedented demand, we are limiting sales quantities to four units per customer,’ Coles wrote
‘I know it’s legal … but it’s still wrong.’
One customer replied to the concerned shopper, telling her she could ‘buy as well’.
‘They got a lot of supply,’ he told Ms Dixon.
Coles responded to the video, saying they were committed to ensuring their ‘genuine’ customers had access to baby formula.
‘As we are currently experiencing unprecedented demand, we are limiting sales quantities to four units per customer,’ Coles wrote.
Facebook users were quick to point out that this behaviour was commonplace across Australian stores
‘We’re continuing our work to ensure our policies are strictly adhered to store to store.’
The shoppers storming the store for milk formula is the latest in a long line of incidents leaving customers furious over the nationwide shortage.
Australian customers who need the product have taken to social media saying they can’t get milk formula for their babies because of the shoppers stocking up and selling it off shore.
Last month 7 News revealed a backyard warehouse in Sydney full of pallets of baby formula tins ready to be sent to China’s black market known as ‘daigous’.
The demand for Australian baby milk formula is high in China because it is believed to be of higher quality.