Uncle Tobys is an Australian food manufacturing company which specialises in breakfast oat products. Since its foundation in 1861, the company has expanded its product range across the cereal and ready-to-eat snack market. Uncle Tobys is a subsidiary of Nestlé, after being acquired in 2006. Uncle Tobys’ main factory is situated in the town of Wahgunyah, Victoria.
History
thumb|The Uncle Tobys silo on Sunshine Rd, West Footscray, Victoria
During the gold rush in Victoria, brothers Leonard and George Parsons left England for Melbourne and began manufacturing under the name John Bull Oats, and in 1861 established the Parsons Bros. company. Parsons Bros. oats were marketed by Clifford Love & Co, which created the Uncle Tobys brand and logo for a new line of oats in 1893.
In 1982, Clifford Love & Co. was merged with the consumer product division of a rival company, ICM Australia, to form Best Foods. ICM began expanding the Uncle Tobys brand to products beyond oats and muesli, and in 1989 renamed Best Foods to Uncle Tobys due to the much higher consumer recognition. The Uncle Tobys cereal business—which accounted for approximately 40% of its overall sales—was bought by Cereal Partners Worldwide (a joint venture between General Mills and Nestlé). Other sections of the Uncle Tobys business, such as nutritious snacks and instant soups, were directly incorporated into Nestlé Australia.
Oats and nutrition
80% of the oats used by Uncle Tobys Australia are of the Mikita variety. Mikita oats differ from conventional oats due to higher levels of disease resistance, increased yield potential, and increased levels of β-glucan.
Uncle Tobys sources 50% of its oats from local farms, which are within 100 km its main factory.
Uncle Tobys often advertises the health benefits of its oats, calling them a ‘natural superfood’. Monro et al. (2003) conducted research on three of Uncle Tobys oat bars (Break-Free Fruesli, Whole meal Fruit, and Chewy Muesli). The study found that: "Dietary Fibre contents are consistent with recommendations for adult males made by the Standing Committee on the Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes of the Food and Nutrition Board". After the announcement, Uncle Tobys altered its advertising practices to remove the aforementioned phrase. Uncle Tobys was prevented from suggesting that Roll-Ups are equivalent to any percentage of fresh fruit and was prevented from running an advertisement that showed an apple being compacted into a Fruit Roll-Up. after being warned three times by the ACCC in infringement notices. The commission issued infringement notices because it had reason to believe that Cereal Partners Australia had violated Australian Consumer Law by misrepresenting the protein content within Uncle Tobys oat products. The commission alleged that the packaging “made false or misleading representations that the oats in these Uncle Tobys products contained a significant amount of protein, which is not the case”.
Uncle Tobys, in collaboration with Royal Life Saving Australia, previously launched a swimming campaign. The program is named ‘Swim My Way’ and was launched on the 6 March 2018. The aim of this program is to promote swimming to all Australians, regardless of their age demographic.
See also: Swim Kids, another initiative by Uncle Tobys, with the purpose of helping kids learn how to swim.
Product recall
On 10 January 2020, Food Standards Australia New Zealand issued a product recall for a number of Uncle Tobys products. The recall affected four flavours of fruit roll-ups; including passionfruit, rainbow berry, rainbow fruit salad, and fun-prints strawberry (Food Standards Australia New Zealand, 2020).
The product recall was due to equipment failure within one of Nestlé's production facilities, which created the possibility for there to be foreign matter (small metal fragments) in the product. Customers who purchased the recalled batches were entitled to a full refund.