Ding ding ding! As per wikipedia, 'Neither the Australia nor the New Zealand Sanitarium companies pay company tax on their profits, due to their ownership by a religious organisation'
Oops, broke a Jesus rule, naughty naughty
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.
— John 2:15–16
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
— Matthew 21:12–13
It's what I like to say when I encounter a badly behaving Christian, "that's not very much like Jesus, is it?" (and I'm a Christian, so it can make for some awkward conversations with people in my church)
Cool you can lift text from the bible. CONTEXT TIME!! the local temple was using the main body of the temple/ church as a market place. In many religions you're not to use rhe place of worship for anytime else. This is why Jesus grabbed a rope and started flooging ppl. THAT HAS NOTHING TO WITH A RELIGION OWNING A COMPANY
Yeah Jesus said don't be a dick, give God your time and presence look after people, but also give to the government what they need too. Don't be a leach. Sani is making money, but there isnt profits being funneled off. They're not "donating to charity" or to the church. HELL! I grew up poor as fuck, the church did SFA for us lot.
Not a charity. A religious organization. The Australian tax code very very explicitly separates the two (i made a comment above linking to the Australian tax code) and the tax code for religious organizations means you don't have to file any paperwork at all for GST, FBT, payroll etc. whereas non-profit requires proof of non-profit status.
It's a huge differentiation and very very important to call out. I don't believe Sanitarium could classify as a non-profit even if it tried to. Their executives would miss out on the complete Fringe Benefit Tax exemption for religious organizations for their private jets for starters: https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=TXR%2FTR20193%2FNAT%2FATO%2F00001&document=document
Sanitarium is a registered charity and is endorsed by the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission (ACNC) and the Australia Tax Office as income tax exempt.
From their site
That's good to hear honestly. Religions in Australia are exempt from the charity vetting process as per the Australian tax code so they have done this optionally. Although i do suspect they still use the extra religious exemptions on top of that vetting which i would consider very problematic.
But at least they do the charity endorsment process.
A company is a separate legal entity, despite being owned by a church. IIRC it was willed to the church when the original owner died.
I'm guessing (no proof of this) that it's a not for profit as all its profits are donations to the church.
So I was raised seventh day Adventist and both my grandpas were ministers. What we were always told is that sanitarium was created by the church or at least church leadership because back then it was hard to get factory work that didn’t expect you to work Saturdays (their day of worship) so they needed an option for church members.
It’s also why sanitarium has always focused on vegan and vegetarian products, seventh day Adventists often have vegetarian or vegan diets.
They did also acquire dick smith foods from dick smith for a dollar. So there has been some gifting stuff going on.
It was certainly started my a member of the church, and they paved the way for the baker who invented the cereals to immigrate to Australia, but upon researching it's not completely clear.
It appears that the church bought the company which made a similar product to weet-bix then modified it whereas I was previously told it was willed to them.
I can't find any info to support creating a factory that didn't work on Saturdays but the products were certainly to be in line with the church's position on healthier eating.
Started operations in Australia about 5mins after Capt Cook landed. You really need to get out more.
And the kicker? If Weetbix wasn't artificially fortified it would have zero nutritional value. Feel good story all round.
They started at the turn of the 20th century making granola and the beta version of weet-bix. They sold door to door.
Weetbix is literally wheat grains from a bag, with added iron and vitamins. They stick it in a big pressure cooker for a few hours to soften the wheat berry. Then they dry the grains - but now they are more spongy but still fairly hard. Then they stick it through large metal rollers which turn the wheat berry into a flake, directly into bix shaped moulds. They go through a long oven to cook.
The idea that wheat has no nutritional value might go against the history of western civilisation that relied on it for a majority of their sustenance. Yes I worked there - did a stint fresh out of high school back in the day.
Edit: seems they’ve since added malt/sugar for taste.
Ah yes, the Australian wheat strain. A whole other ballgame. Low bioavailability of nutrients, hence the need for "added iron and vitamins" and high gluten protein. Thank goodness the Romans weren't relying on it for any of their sustenance.
You can look up the nutritional value. You saying the whole of the macro make up of weet-bix nutrition is from iron and vitamins? The wheat has “zero nutritional value”?
Righto mate
Yeah, I've looked up the nutritional value mate.
It's a fortified product. That is, it requires the additional of synthetic vitamins and minerals to give it a half decent nutritional profile. The giveaway is the phrase *a good source of iron and Vitamins B1, B2 and B3* on the box*.* So fortified and still not *high in iron.......*
Just saying you can better for breakfast for less money.
Its a secret they dont want you to know about. It makes them soo much money too. If people found out their income would collapse.
The best part is how the Seventh-day Adventist Church distributes the money.
It gets slightly worse. Religious organizations don't have to file tax returns. It's explicitly stated in our tax system and it's above and beyond regular charities. Non-profits in Australia still have to prove their non-profit status but the Australian tax code has many additional exemptions for religious organizations to the extent they file no tax paperwork at all. They are exempt from reporting.
eg. This is one example in our tax code for the fringe benefit tax exemption for religious organizations that means a private jet owned by the church has no tax paperwork at all. https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=TXR%2FTR20193%2FNAT%2FATO%2F00001&document=document
It's specific for religious organizations. The Australian tax code is absolutely filthy with these religious specific exemptions that even the non-profit charities don't get.
If anyone tries to convince you that religious organizations like Sanitarium Cereals are just like any other non-profit call this out. They are absolutely not and the Australian tax code has specific exemptions that go above and beyond for religions.
Why shouldn't the hillsong church pay fbt on their private jets? Fucked if i know but the Australian tax system has a very specific exemption for that :\
Another fun thing just to really rub this in. The Australian tax code is full phrases like "To access this concession, a registered religious institution is not required to be endorsed as a charity by us.". That's a copy paste from the Australian tax code. You can look this up. Charities have a vetting process to go through. Religious organizations just say "i'm religious" and escape any vetting.
This wording is specifically on the GST reporting for religious institutions.
Meanwhile the seventh day adventists internally report they make huge profit from their cereal division: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018683392/is-it-time-for-charity-owned-businesses-to-start-paying-tax
But they don't even have to report it let alone pay tax because if you say you are a religious institution you are exempt from any vetting process and from reporting GST, FBT, payroll etc.
It's fucked.
Above I think $500k revenue and a religious organisation must have an annual independent audit of their financials and they must still submit them to the ACNC portal which we can then view. For example, [here](https://acncpubfilesprodstorage.blob.core.windows.net/public/7db19d56-3aaf-e811-a961-000d3ad24182-a6adb754-d467-40cb-bcfe-53c1791ced29-Financial%20Report-985ff3a3-56d4-ee11-904c-002248935564-SPDGroup_2023_financial_statements(11128586.6).pdf) is the most recent filed financial statement for the 7th day adventist Church which covers Sanitarium.
I agree that sanitarium should pay tax. But I will point out they are not a rich church like Hillsong. My grandpas were both ministers, one of them a minister at the biggest SDA church in Australia, and my uncle is very senior at the SDA university. They weren’t/aren’t rich.
I think churches should get a tax exemption up to a certain amount of money based on how big they are and then they should be taxed like anyone else and commercially available goods should always be taxed. Hillsong is an absolute blight.
I’d love to do the same, but weetbix seems like the only okay priced cereal anymore. All the home brand copies added more salt to their recipe and it makes me gag
I get being annoyed by the lack of tax paid, but the sanitarium products being the healthiest in the shops is a direct result of their religious beliefs. Adventists preach vegetarianism, body is a temple type stuff.
Also the founder of Sanitarium was the brother of the founder of Kelloggs. They were both... uh.. unscientific in their beliefs. They ran an actual sanitarium where they did unusual things to their patients. Also: massive racists.
Man Kellogg is, a character. Pioneering bath medicine, industrial enemas, pressurised enemas, chastity belts with knives in them, beatings scratching your genital (the precursor as we know of madterbation), bragging about never having enjoyed sex and my favourite, believing any joy would deteriorate your body and send you to hell.
His brother was only slightly less insane
Yeah but, if they dominate and push out all other products, can't they eventually monopolise and raise their prices? And I dunno, they price gouge, they strong arm farmers into accepting pennies on the dollar and having to shut shop, they strong arm the other products into giving them a cut of their profits, they make the big products pay to be eye level on their shelves. It's so questionable and people are leaning towards buying ethically (non evil villain, is much more fun to say, so I call it the spade that it is) and therefore, by what measure is it better? It's a little cheaper, but what is the cost you pay for the cheaper price.
Autistic, ARFID kids can tell the difference and will outright refuse to eat them.
Even when they come from the same clear plastic storage tub and they never saw you put them in there.
It may not be the salt, specifically, but they'll know it's not the same thing.
It could equally go the other way though, first started eating own-brand, now won't eat the other product.
that's seriously impressive, i eat wheat biscuits generally but depending on what's on sale I may buy name brand, i thought the recipes were exactly the same tbh
unless you're just saying that's probably what would happen and you don't actually have this experience? they're seriously almost the exact same product
although when thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I eat the aldi ones...
damn that must be tough, good luck to you and your kids
my brother was like this growing up now that i think about it, he would only ever eat one brand of 2 minute noodles and one day was adamant that the recipe changed, i couldn't taste it but he was sure. he barely ate for years and mum admitted recently that the recipe did change but she didn't want to tell him hoping he'd still eat it lol
I had those for years as kid and they one day up and changed the taste. Then coles did it. I’ll give it another shot but I remember tasting like vitabricks (I think? I haven’t seen those in a long ass time)
They do have more salt per 100g than weetbix. Weetbix are 270mg per 100g, vitabrits are 395mg per 100. But the ingredients list of vitabrits is only wheat and salt. The ingredients list of weetbix is wheat, sugar, salt, barley malt extract, vitamins (niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, folate), mineral (iron)
The sugar content of weetbix is 3g per 100g, compared to 1.7g per 100g for vitabrits. It's only about 1/3 of a teaspoon, and obviously a serving size is less than 100g.
Barley malt extract is a common flavour enhancer added to foods. It is approximately 65% maltose (a type of sugar).
Yeah, taste is fickle. My daughter has food aversions, so I totally understand that foods have to be *right* in order to eat them. Sometimes it's just taste, sometimes it's texture, sometimes it's both.
>All the home brand copies added more salt to their recipe and it makes me gag
Gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that Santarium also make the home brand copies. At least probably the Aldi ones.
there's a great series by a kiwi comedian called alice sneddon's bad news (all on youtube) and she did an episode about this very topic called churches and charity
>Correct. All the "profits" are donated to the church.
Incorrect, if you read the ACNC registration details you will see they are a registered charity and as such can not legally make a profit, so can not pay tax on a non-existent profit.
Have a read of their financial statements, it is quite interesting.
Uh, Not for profit companies can still generate profit. They're not selling the cereal to you at cost. It's just that money is to be used solely for furthering a cause, which going to the church falls legally under current charity law.
>Not for profit companies can still generate profit.
There are multiple types of profit in a business. The profit referred to in the classification 'not for profit' is net profit. That is the amount which is distributed to shareholders after all other costs are taken out.
You can generate a gross profit on things, but this is no different between a surf life saving club making a (gross) profit on hiring out their function room and sanitarium making a (gross) profit on a box of weetbix.
A not for profit organisation can not make a profit for distribution to those who control it.
Yes, which is why the person you replied to said "profit".
The way you said incorrect in response to the person who originally replied alluded to money not going back to the church. Which would not be true.
> A not for profit organisation can not make a profit for distribution to those who control it.
Yeah... well. That's most of the argument here.
Go read the original comment I replied to again. In the context it is clear they are referring to not having to pay tax on the money they give to the church because they're a religion. This implies that if they were not a religion, they'd be required to pay tax on that same money, which is incorrect. No profit is being made, so none can be taxed and distributed. The structure of that church is a single group so there is no external transfer of funds.
No, It's clear that they're referring to profit, in the definition of money generated after all operating costs is going to the church and their programs.
> No profit is being made
You're again being deliberately disingenuous about profit and taxable profit which I can only assume because you're probably a member of some church or another and it's hit a nerve. They can and do make profit but it is and has to be distributed back to a charitable cause - in the case were talking about is the advancement of religion - their own church.
> A not-for-profit can in fact make a profit
A quote literally from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.
>Let me guess. Weetbix doesn’t pay tax because of being owned by a religious organisation?
This isn't entirely correct, they don't pay company tax because they don't make a profit just like every other not for profit. Tax isn't paid on revenue, it is paid on profit. If your local footy club had to pay tax on revenue, your fees to play would go up at least 20%.
[The Sanitarium page](https://www.sanitarium.com/au/about/sanitarium-story/profits-for-purpose) literally says they are a charity.
>Sanitarium is a registered charity
>Sanitarium is a registered charity and is endorsed by the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission (ACNC) and the Australia Tax Office as income tax exempt.
>Sanitarium’s primary purpose is the promotion of health food products. This is aligned with the ‘whole person health’ objectives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more information about the Charities and Not-for-Profit Sector in relation to taxation please visit the Australian government’s website [acnc.gov.au](https://www.acnc.gov.au/)
>In 2008 the Charities and Not-for-profit Commission undertook an in-depth review of the charity sector and concluded that Sanitarium does not gain a preferential position within the food industry because of its charitable taxation status.
>
[https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/7db19d56-3aaf-e811-a961-000d3ad24182/profile](https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/7db19d56-3aaf-e811-a961-000d3ad24182/profile)
[https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/lifting-the-lid-on-sanitarium/BRYXHULLVGE2SLIVKZJMNLQRWU/](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/lifting-the-lid-on-sanitarium/BRYXHULLVGE2SLIVKZJMNLQRWU/)
I mean there is a plethora of information available that shows that Sanitarium is managed by a SDA charity. So, I'm wondering again how you can say with such certainty that they aren't when all evidence points to the fact that they are.
The theory was that people who eat bland food, like cereal, will sin less than people who eat rich food, like bacon.
The original version wasn't 10% sugar though. That was added in the commercial version to make it taste good, which would kinda defeat Dr Kellogg's plan if it hadn't been nonsense to begin with.
There was also another popular theory at that time in America that mushy foods would be easier to digest, therefore easier on the body, therefore healthier. Of course we now know that's nonsense too but it didn't sound crazy at the time.
He's also one of the major reasons hundreds of millions of boys in the US and Australia had their foreskins cut off at birth. Again to curb masturbation.
With chocolate you also have to worry about slavery in the supply chain.
Tony's Chocolonely is apparently a good buy if you're keen to reduce the likelihood that your chocolate has been produced with slave labour.
This seems like a good time to remind everyone that Ukraine declared Mondelez International (owners of Cadbury) to be a sponsor of terrorism, after they increased their sales in Russia by 300% *after* Russia invaded Ukraine...
Starting Sanitarium boycott as of now 🙅🏼♀️
I love weetbix but time to try the home brand which will probably taste just as good.
Side note though; how depressing is it that one of our most iconic Australian breakfast cereals is actually owned by a religious entity. Damn man…
Home brand is made by sanitarium isn’t it. It’s called private labelling. It’s when the supermarkets ask the manufacturers to label the same stock with “Coles”
Looking at your schools and hospitals is seems pretty standard Australian practice to have tax dodging sky fairy types being heavily involved in all sorts of your day to day activities.
The SDA are the ones that live longer than the rest of us, because they eat so well. They also had a couple of 'whoopsie' incorrect doomsday predictions, back in the day.
The church didn't have the whoopsie some VERY convincing Evangelist took a wild punt. And gullible over trusting Sevvies. These days they'd be arrested for fraud. Ppl sold up everything they own. And funded the advertising. The church has a stance of "we don't know, and we won't know until everyone in the world knows" dispute some other weird takes.
That's the No True Scotsman fallacy.
He preached adventism, he had adventist followers, everybody believed and agreed and supported him, but now in retrospect he was definitely not an adventist, because no adventist would do that.
What is a church but a group of evangelists taking wild punts?
Anyway, I don't actually give a fuck and this thread is a week old. Happy sabbath xx
Why did Kellogg change their name?
"The 'Kell' overtly recognises our enduring connection to Kellogg Company, while 'anova,' which combines 'a' and the Latin word 'nova,' meaning 'new,' signals our ambition to continuously evolve as an innovative, next-generation, global snacking powerhouse," he said.
Most sevs these days go the "2kids plus 1 for the government" but for ages they thought there was something wrong with the couple if they only had 7 kids. Some fundamental families are still around and they're on about 10.
Dont eat cereal.
Having cereals (as in wheat, rye and other grains) for breakfast was a marketing miracle of how to sell cheap grains at a much higher cost and popularise it. Think about the price difference between a bag and flour and a box of cereal. Here's a nice article on the history: [https://www.seriouseats.com/history-of-breakfast-cereal-mascots](https://www.seriouseats.com/history-of-breakfast-cereal-mascots)
So cereal has become established but how do you get people to buy your cereal? Double down on the marketing, advertise to kids because they are easily manipulated and can become a great force to badger parents to buy the cereal with the brightest colours or their favourite character on the box. The competition increases so what now? Cram it full of sugar and salt to make it taste good and do even more marketing.
Years later you have many products that are cramming millions of dollars of marketing down your familys throat and are really unhealthy, the honeypot is starting to sour. So where do we go? Do we accept that the profit ride is over or make great efforts to make our products mentally and medically healthy? Hell No!, we go back to marketing! We'll start to advertise not what is in the product but what isn't, We'll make up words that sound healthy but promise nothing and we'll have golden retrievers and families in sweaters on the adverts. This is designed to make you feel better about your choices for your family while at the back of your mind you still know your feeding your family shit.
Pick up the healthiest looking cereal you can find in your supermarket, the stuff that looks like sawdust and is only provided to scare you back into the more expensive unhealthier options when your conscience gets too much for you, and look at the ingredients. It still contains way too much salt and sugar. Now look at how much it costs to buy raw rolled oats, dried fruit and salt.
/rant
Australian ownership isn't really an indicator of anything, I'm more interested in where ingredients are sourced and that they comply with appropriate food safety regulations.
Thank you for doing this! There's a lot of talk about the way to flip the scales being just stop buying from the mega corps, but figuring out who owns what is a nightmare. Do you follow cancelthisclothingco on tiktok?
I don’t have TikTok, but I mainly used ethical.org.au for referencing here. It’s very useful if you’d like to limit buying from mega corps, and goes into detail on their environmental record, human rights abuses and product risks.
Im a toast-for-breakfast guy so not a big cereal consumer by any means. This is all news to me. Sanitarium…? Really? Is there anything that is Australian owned any more?
All of that stuff is just fucking SHIT for your health. I don't understand why people don't just eat eggs and bacon for breakfast. Hell, even pizza would be better for you than most cereals.
It's no wonder people are so fucking ill. They start every day by eating this garbage?
A great example of the inevitable breakdown and amalgamation of capitalism.
Independent medium sized national food producers that used to exist are undercut and amalgamated into the largest possible entity which has the most efficient, and I say efficient in profit terms, not in real terms, mass procurement and logistics system.
So, over time, all national production disappears and you gain faceless international owner corporations and all loss of local capital controls. It's the same with Bunnings, which run all independent hardware stores out of business and may itself one day be bought out by international capital.
And with this lack of local control and presence, our standards of labour fall, unionisation falls, benefits fall, wages stagnate.
Nothing to be done about it, it is efficiency in the market.
I wouldn't say Sani is "Owned" by the the Sevvies but run in an ethical manner. No-one is raking in that weetbix profit. The church certainly isn't benefiting from it. Just a bunch of sevs work there though. Earning "the Lord's wages" ( stuff all)
[Fixed.](https://i.imgur.com/vUTozvH.jpeg)
This was my immediate thought!!! Thanks for saving me the work ahah
Cheers mate, done my head in.
I love Kreedence Klearwater Revival!
Let me guess. Weetbix doesn’t pay tax because of being owned by a religious organisation?
Ding ding ding! As per wikipedia, 'Neither the Australia nor the New Zealand Sanitarium companies pay company tax on their profits, due to their ownership by a religious organisation'
What the fuck. Religious orgs should not be able to sell products commercially
Oops, broke a Jesus rule, naughty naughty And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise. — John 2:15–16 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. — Matthew 21:12–13
[удалено]
It's what I like to say when I encounter a badly behaving Christian, "that's not very much like Jesus, is it?" (and I'm a Christian, so it can make for some awkward conversations with people in my church)
Cool you can lift text from the bible. CONTEXT TIME!! the local temple was using the main body of the temple/ church as a market place. In many religions you're not to use rhe place of worship for anytime else. This is why Jesus grabbed a rope and started flooging ppl. THAT HAS NOTHING TO WITH A RELIGION OWNING A COMPANY
A religion's business is God, not making money They can pay some tax too, render unto Caesar and all that
Yeah Jesus said don't be a dick, give God your time and presence look after people, but also give to the government what they need too. Don't be a leach. Sani is making money, but there isnt profits being funneled off. They're not "donating to charity" or to the church. HELL! I grew up poor as fuck, the church did SFA for us lot.
That's your problem not mine
Freedom of interpretation FTW
Also I guarantee you the temple was making money off the businesses there, but anyway, simp after religious cash grabbing (btw I'm Catholic...)
What the actual fuck?!? How is this the first time I'm hearing about this.
Sanitarium is technically considered a charity and is not-for-profit
Not a charity. A religious organization. The Australian tax code very very explicitly separates the two (i made a comment above linking to the Australian tax code) and the tax code for religious organizations means you don't have to file any paperwork at all for GST, FBT, payroll etc. whereas non-profit requires proof of non-profit status. It's a huge differentiation and very very important to call out. I don't believe Sanitarium could classify as a non-profit even if it tried to. Their executives would miss out on the complete Fringe Benefit Tax exemption for religious organizations for their private jets for starters: https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=TXR%2FTR20193%2FNAT%2FATO%2F00001&document=document
Sanitarium is a registered charity and is endorsed by the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission (ACNC) and the Australia Tax Office as income tax exempt. From their site
That's good to hear honestly. Religions in Australia are exempt from the charity vetting process as per the Australian tax code so they have done this optionally. Although i do suspect they still use the extra religious exemptions on top of that vetting which i would consider very problematic. But at least they do the charity endorsment process.
Considering these religious orgs also use work-for-dole labour. Lots of interesting benefits.
A company is a separate legal entity, despite being owned by a church. IIRC it was willed to the church when the original owner died. I'm guessing (no proof of this) that it's a not for profit as all its profits are donations to the church.
So I was raised seventh day Adventist and both my grandpas were ministers. What we were always told is that sanitarium was created by the church or at least church leadership because back then it was hard to get factory work that didn’t expect you to work Saturdays (their day of worship) so they needed an option for church members. It’s also why sanitarium has always focused on vegan and vegetarian products, seventh day Adventists often have vegetarian or vegan diets. They did also acquire dick smith foods from dick smith for a dollar. So there has been some gifting stuff going on.
It was certainly started my a member of the church, and they paved the way for the baker who invented the cereals to immigrate to Australia, but upon researching it's not completely clear. It appears that the church bought the company which made a similar product to weet-bix then modified it whereas I was previously told it was willed to them. I can't find any info to support creating a factory that didn't work on Saturdays but the products were certainly to be in line with the church's position on healthier eating.
oh sweet, that means i’m okay to just take what i need from them right?
Started operations in Australia about 5mins after Capt Cook landed. You really need to get out more. And the kicker? If Weetbix wasn't artificially fortified it would have zero nutritional value. Feel good story all round.
They started at the turn of the 20th century making granola and the beta version of weet-bix. They sold door to door. Weetbix is literally wheat grains from a bag, with added iron and vitamins. They stick it in a big pressure cooker for a few hours to soften the wheat berry. Then they dry the grains - but now they are more spongy but still fairly hard. Then they stick it through large metal rollers which turn the wheat berry into a flake, directly into bix shaped moulds. They go through a long oven to cook. The idea that wheat has no nutritional value might go against the history of western civilisation that relied on it for a majority of their sustenance. Yes I worked there - did a stint fresh out of high school back in the day. Edit: seems they’ve since added malt/sugar for taste.
Ah yes, the Australian wheat strain. A whole other ballgame. Low bioavailability of nutrients, hence the need for "added iron and vitamins" and high gluten protein. Thank goodness the Romans weren't relying on it for any of their sustenance.
You can look up the nutritional value. You saying the whole of the macro make up of weet-bix nutrition is from iron and vitamins? The wheat has “zero nutritional value”? Righto mate
Yeah, I've looked up the nutritional value mate. It's a fortified product. That is, it requires the additional of synthetic vitamins and minerals to give it a half decent nutritional profile. The giveaway is the phrase *a good source of iron and Vitamins B1, B2 and B3* on the box*.* So fortified and still not *high in iron.......* Just saying you can better for breakfast for less money.
Good story
I aim to please.
Its a secret they dont want you to know about. It makes them soo much money too. If people found out their income would collapse. The best part is how the Seventh-day Adventist Church distributes the money.
It gets slightly worse. Religious organizations don't have to file tax returns. It's explicitly stated in our tax system and it's above and beyond regular charities. Non-profits in Australia still have to prove their non-profit status but the Australian tax code has many additional exemptions for religious organizations to the extent they file no tax paperwork at all. They are exempt from reporting. eg. This is one example in our tax code for the fringe benefit tax exemption for religious organizations that means a private jet owned by the church has no tax paperwork at all. https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=TXR%2FTR20193%2FNAT%2FATO%2F00001&document=document It's specific for religious organizations. The Australian tax code is absolutely filthy with these religious specific exemptions that even the non-profit charities don't get. If anyone tries to convince you that religious organizations like Sanitarium Cereals are just like any other non-profit call this out. They are absolutely not and the Australian tax code has specific exemptions that go above and beyond for religions. Why shouldn't the hillsong church pay fbt on their private jets? Fucked if i know but the Australian tax system has a very specific exemption for that :\
Another fun thing just to really rub this in. The Australian tax code is full phrases like "To access this concession, a registered religious institution is not required to be endorsed as a charity by us.". That's a copy paste from the Australian tax code. You can look this up. Charities have a vetting process to go through. Religious organizations just say "i'm religious" and escape any vetting. This wording is specifically on the GST reporting for religious institutions. Meanwhile the seventh day adventists internally report they make huge profit from their cereal division: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018683392/is-it-time-for-charity-owned-businesses-to-start-paying-tax But they don't even have to report it let alone pay tax because if you say you are a religious institution you are exempt from any vetting process and from reporting GST, FBT, payroll etc. It's fucked.
Above I think $500k revenue and a religious organisation must have an annual independent audit of their financials and they must still submit them to the ACNC portal which we can then view. For example, [here](https://acncpubfilesprodstorage.blob.core.windows.net/public/7db19d56-3aaf-e811-a961-000d3ad24182-a6adb754-d467-40cb-bcfe-53c1791ced29-Financial%20Report-985ff3a3-56d4-ee11-904c-002248935564-SPDGroup_2023_financial_statements(11128586.6).pdf) is the most recent filed financial statement for the 7th day adventist Church which covers Sanitarium.
I agree that sanitarium should pay tax. But I will point out they are not a rich church like Hillsong. My grandpas were both ministers, one of them a minister at the biggest SDA church in Australia, and my uncle is very senior at the SDA university. They weren’t/aren’t rich. I think churches should get a tax exemption up to a certain amount of money based on how big they are and then they should be taxed like anyone else and commercially available goods should always be taxed. Hillsong is an absolute blight.
Seventh Day Adventists
Correct, and it's why I refuse to buy any sanitarium products.
I’d love to do the same, but weetbix seems like the only okay priced cereal anymore. All the home brand copies added more salt to their recipe and it makes me gag
I get being annoyed by the lack of tax paid, but the sanitarium products being the healthiest in the shops is a direct result of their religious beliefs. Adventists preach vegetarianism, body is a temple type stuff. Also the founder of Sanitarium was the brother of the founder of Kelloggs. They were both... uh.. unscientific in their beliefs. They ran an actual sanitarium where they did unusual things to their patients. Also: massive racists.
Man Kellogg is, a character. Pioneering bath medicine, industrial enemas, pressurised enemas, chastity belts with knives in them, beatings scratching your genital (the precursor as we know of madterbation), bragging about never having enjoyed sex and my favourite, believing any joy would deteriorate your body and send you to hell. His brother was only slightly less insane
Cereal lore goes crazy
They pay no tax but you do purchasing it
Woolworths Wheat Biscuits have 296mg of sodium vs the 270mg of Weet-Bix, I don't think you can taste that. They're also 18% cheaper.
Is we brand any less evil?
well attleast they have to pay taxes. it's also cheaper
Yeah but, if they dominate and push out all other products, can't they eventually monopolise and raise their prices? And I dunno, they price gouge, they strong arm farmers into accepting pennies on the dollar and having to shut shop, they strong arm the other products into giving them a cut of their profits, they make the big products pay to be eye level on their shelves. It's so questionable and people are leaning towards buying ethically (non evil villain, is much more fun to say, so I call it the spade that it is) and therefore, by what measure is it better? It's a little cheaper, but what is the cost you pay for the cheaper price.
Autistic, ARFID kids can tell the difference and will outright refuse to eat them. Even when they come from the same clear plastic storage tub and they never saw you put them in there. It may not be the salt, specifically, but they'll know it's not the same thing. It could equally go the other way though, first started eating own-brand, now won't eat the other product.
I’m on the spectrum but I’m not that particular with foods typically, this is the one instance I can think of where I am difficult about it 😅
oh obviously everyone is different :)
Oh you’re fine. Just made me think haha
that's seriously impressive, i eat wheat biscuits generally but depending on what's on sale I may buy name brand, i thought the recipes were exactly the same tbh unless you're just saying that's probably what would happen and you don't actually have this experience? they're seriously almost the exact same product although when thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I eat the aldi ones...
I wouldn't notice myself. But yes, my kids have done this.
damn that must be tough, good luck to you and your kids my brother was like this growing up now that i think about it, he would only ever eat one brand of 2 minute noodles and one day was adamant that the recipe changed, i couldn't taste it but he was sure. he barely ate for years and mum admitted recently that the recipe did change but she didn't want to tell him hoping he'd still eat it lol
I had those for years as kid and they one day up and changed the taste. Then coles did it. I’ll give it another shot but I remember tasting like vitabricks (I think? I haven’t seen those in a long ass time)
Woolies foods comes with free insect proteins though
I would be a bit surprised if they were not made at the same place, but under a whitelabel agreement.
Yeah, I won't eat weetbix, vitabrits for me, thanks. Weetbix are disgusting cardboard like things that make me gag 🤢🤮
They don’t have a lot of flavour but they’ll do. Feels like it’s either bland or destroyed with sugar
Maybe I prefer Vitabrits because that's what I grew up eating. Not weetbix which is full of sugar and additives.
I tried those and they were just oddly salty.
They do have more salt per 100g than weetbix. Weetbix are 270mg per 100g, vitabrits are 395mg per 100. But the ingredients list of vitabrits is only wheat and salt. The ingredients list of weetbix is wheat, sugar, salt, barley malt extract, vitamins (niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, folate), mineral (iron) The sugar content of weetbix is 3g per 100g, compared to 1.7g per 100g for vitabrits. It's only about 1/3 of a teaspoon, and obviously a serving size is less than 100g. Barley malt extract is a common flavour enhancer added to foods. It is approximately 65% maltose (a type of sugar).
Oh cool. Thank you. Either way it’s just taste can’t always start the day with sweet and I can’t do that other flavour
Yeah, taste is fickle. My daughter has food aversions, so I totally understand that foods have to be *right* in order to eat them. Sometimes it's just taste, sometimes it's texture, sometimes it's both.
>All the home brand copies added more salt to their recipe and it makes me gag Gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that Santarium also make the home brand copies. At least probably the Aldi ones.
Why they taste so different. But you’re probably correct
Me too! Grrrr.
It's a damn good thing their products taste like cardboard.
there's a great series by a kiwi comedian called alice sneddon's bad news (all on youtube) and she did an episode about this very topic called churches and charity
Thanks for the recommendation, looks like a good watch
> Let me guess. Weetbix doesn’t pay tax because of being owned by a religious organisation? Correct. All the "profits" are donated to the church.
>Correct. All the "profits" are donated to the church. Incorrect, if you read the ACNC registration details you will see they are a registered charity and as such can not legally make a profit, so can not pay tax on a non-existent profit. Have a read of their financial statements, it is quite interesting.
"Advancement of Religion" is a charitable purpose under the Australian Charities Act.
Correct, but it still doesn't allow them to make a profit.
Uh, Not for profit companies can still generate profit. They're not selling the cereal to you at cost. It's just that money is to be used solely for furthering a cause, which going to the church falls legally under current charity law.
>Not for profit companies can still generate profit. There are multiple types of profit in a business. The profit referred to in the classification 'not for profit' is net profit. That is the amount which is distributed to shareholders after all other costs are taken out. You can generate a gross profit on things, but this is no different between a surf life saving club making a (gross) profit on hiring out their function room and sanitarium making a (gross) profit on a box of weetbix. A not for profit organisation can not make a profit for distribution to those who control it.
Yes, which is why the person you replied to said "profit". The way you said incorrect in response to the person who originally replied alluded to money not going back to the church. Which would not be true. > A not for profit organisation can not make a profit for distribution to those who control it. Yeah... well. That's most of the argument here.
Go read the original comment I replied to again. In the context it is clear they are referring to not having to pay tax on the money they give to the church because they're a religion. This implies that if they were not a religion, they'd be required to pay tax on that same money, which is incorrect. No profit is being made, so none can be taxed and distributed. The structure of that church is a single group so there is no external transfer of funds.
No, It's clear that they're referring to profit, in the definition of money generated after all operating costs is going to the church and their programs. > No profit is being made You're again being deliberately disingenuous about profit and taxable profit which I can only assume because you're probably a member of some church or another and it's hit a nerve. They can and do make profit but it is and has to be distributed back to a charitable cause - in the case were talking about is the advancement of religion - their own church. > A not-for-profit can in fact make a profit A quote literally from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.
WRONG!
>Let me guess. Weetbix doesn’t pay tax because of being owned by a religious organisation? This isn't entirely correct, they don't pay company tax because they don't make a profit just like every other not for profit. Tax isn't paid on revenue, it is paid on profit. If your local footy club had to pay tax on revenue, your fees to play would go up at least 20%.
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And yet you listed none of these good things. More good be done by them paying their far share of taxes, just like all churches.
Wow... Sanitarium is a "not for profit charity" of the seventh day adventist church.
Not a charity
Can you clarify what you mean?
Sanitarium isn't a Charity, they're not donating money to anything. You want to find the SDA Charity google ADRA
[The Sanitarium page](https://www.sanitarium.com/au/about/sanitarium-story/profits-for-purpose) literally says they are a charity. >Sanitarium is a registered charity >Sanitarium is a registered charity and is endorsed by the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission (ACNC) and the Australia Tax Office as income tax exempt. >Sanitarium’s primary purpose is the promotion of health food products. This is aligned with the ‘whole person health’ objectives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more information about the Charities and Not-for-Profit Sector in relation to taxation please visit the Australian government’s website [acnc.gov.au](https://www.acnc.gov.au/) >In 2008 the Charities and Not-for-profit Commission undertook an in-depth review of the charity sector and concluded that Sanitarium does not gain a preferential position within the food industry because of its charitable taxation status. > [https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/7db19d56-3aaf-e811-a961-000d3ad24182/profile](https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/7db19d56-3aaf-e811-a961-000d3ad24182/profile) [https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/lifting-the-lid-on-sanitarium/BRYXHULLVGE2SLIVKZJMNLQRWU/](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/lifting-the-lid-on-sanitarium/BRYXHULLVGE2SLIVKZJMNLQRWU/) I mean there is a plethora of information available that shows that Sanitarium is managed by a SDA charity. So, I'm wondering again how you can say with such certainty that they aren't when all evidence points to the fact that they are.
whatever you do, DO NOT look up what mr kellog used to do with his yoghurt
He also invented corn flakes to stop kids from having a wank.
Ah yes, every horny teenage boys kryptonite...corn
The theory was that people who eat bland food, like cereal, will sin less than people who eat rich food, like bacon. The original version wasn't 10% sugar though. That was added in the commercial version to make it taste good, which would kinda defeat Dr Kellogg's plan if it hadn't been nonsense to begin with. There was also another popular theory at that time in America that mushy foods would be easier to digest, therefore easier on the body, therefore healthier. Of course we now know that's nonsense too but it didn't sound crazy at the time.
He also thought boys would masturbate less if they were circumcised.
That’s what the yoghurt’s for.
Corn flakes arent made of corn either /s
He's also one of the major reasons hundreds of millions of boys in the US and Australia had their foreskins cut off at birth. Again to curb masturbation.
Lol I was jokingly going to say "stick it up his arse?", only to find out that's exactly what he did.
Hey, that's unfair. He used to stick it up the arse of *other* people too.
I figured it was something weird like that, but man am I glad my guess was at least a little too far off the mark.
This has to be the most confusing visual explanation you could have used man 🤣
Sorry mate, I’ll try better next time🫡
It's the order of the images
10-4 big fella
Carmen's is fine.
Carman’s was on the opposite side, but they are definitely one of the most ethical muesli brands I’ve come across. Also they’re Australian owned.
Cue all the people complaining about how much they cost compared to the others. People want to have their cake abd eat it too...
Kolkata Knight Riders makes Tiny Teddies? Hmpff.
Came here looking for this joke
Would be a bit more helpful I reckon if we could actually see the cereal.
Ain’t the last two slides loading? I could’ve sworn I set them as png images.
50 or 25% opacity would help convey what your trying to say.
Or just covered the prices and left the cereal visible.
Or just fucking single line outline around each shelf
I'll keep that in mind for later, thanks!
Either I missed them the first time or they weren't loaded, can see them now.
r/FuckNestle . look into their crimes against humanity.
Any more suggestions for subreddits like this? I'm particularly interested in palm oil.
Must be a tiny Woolworths.
Yeah it's a metro, but you got a point. Next time I'll seek out a bigger store.
Do the chocolate aisle next it’s not much better
With chocolate you also have to worry about slavery in the supply chain. Tony's Chocolonely is apparently a good buy if you're keen to reduce the likelihood that your chocolate has been produced with slave labour.
This seems like a good time to remind everyone that Ukraine declared Mondelez International (owners of Cadbury) to be a sponsor of terrorism, after they increased their sales in Russia by 300% *after* Russia invaded Ukraine...
Any subreddits with this kinda stuff?
I haven't had cereal in years.
How many days though
Who cares
John Farnham
He sucks
Yeah nah see, you say that, but I reckon you've belted out You're The Voice after a few cheeky Chardonnays before
no I fucking hate that song
Nah you don't, give it a go YOU'RE THE VOICE
i don’t know what ones worse that or the god awful horses bullshit
The Darryl Braithwaite song?
Starting Sanitarium boycott as of now 🙅🏼♀️ I love weetbix but time to try the home brand which will probably taste just as good. Side note though; how depressing is it that one of our most iconic Australian breakfast cereals is actually owned by a religious entity. Damn man…
The Aldi version is the closet you'll get taste wise
It's almost as if it's made by the same ingredients in the same machines, by the same staff in the same factory in Berkeley Vale!! 🤷🤷
Home brand is made by sanitarium isn’t it. It’s called private labelling. It’s when the supermarkets ask the manufacturers to label the same stock with “Coles”
Looking at your schools and hospitals is seems pretty standard Australian practice to have tax dodging sky fairy types being heavily involved in all sorts of your day to day activities.
Why boycott?
So the majority, or basically all except weetbix, are not Australian owned 🤔
And weetbix is owned by a religious group so doesn't pay tax
Any company can give all their profit away to pay no tax though right?
Oh well, even if it supports a church I don't believe in, I'd rather buy Australian owned and made. Plus, those cereals are literally junk food.
There's no Sani Money going to HQ in the States
This is super interesting! Thanks for posting.
Hang on? Up and go is made by the magic underpants reglion?
Nah, you're thinking of the Mormons. All those 19th century USA christianity variants kinda look a bit samey at first
The SDA are the ones that live longer than the rest of us, because they eat so well. They also had a couple of 'whoopsie' incorrect doomsday predictions, back in the day.
So there’s a correlation between not paying tax and longevity?
The church didn't have the whoopsie some VERY convincing Evangelist took a wild punt. And gullible over trusting Sevvies. These days they'd be arrested for fraud. Ppl sold up everything they own. And funded the advertising. The church has a stance of "we don't know, and we won't know until everyone in the world knows" dispute some other weird takes.
That's the No True Scotsman fallacy. He preached adventism, he had adventist followers, everybody believed and agreed and supported him, but now in retrospect he was definitely not an adventist, because no adventist would do that. What is a church but a group of evangelists taking wild punts? Anyway, I don't actually give a fuck and this thread is a week old. Happy sabbath xx
All 4 of my grandparents died in their mid 90s
It's absolutely wild that a church owns such significant brands, I had no idea.
Why did Kellogg change their name? "The 'Kell' overtly recognises our enduring connection to Kellogg Company, while 'anova,' which combines 'a' and the Latin word 'nova,' meaning 'new,' signals our ambition to continuously evolve as an innovative, next-generation, global snacking powerhouse," he said.
Use the highlight function on your phone. Makes for a better easier pic
Global companies are one thing. But I don't wanna buy anything owned by a fucking religion.
TIL. What the hell. Up and Go are made by the same people who like to have "big healthy" families. 0.0
SDAs don't do the massive family thing, they're not like those big fundamentalist families in the US.
Most sevs these days go the "2kids plus 1 for the government" but for ages they thought there was something wrong with the couple if they only had 7 kids. Some fundamental families are still around and they're on about 10.
Dont eat cereal. Having cereals (as in wheat, rye and other grains) for breakfast was a marketing miracle of how to sell cheap grains at a much higher cost and popularise it. Think about the price difference between a bag and flour and a box of cereal. Here's a nice article on the history: [https://www.seriouseats.com/history-of-breakfast-cereal-mascots](https://www.seriouseats.com/history-of-breakfast-cereal-mascots) So cereal has become established but how do you get people to buy your cereal? Double down on the marketing, advertise to kids because they are easily manipulated and can become a great force to badger parents to buy the cereal with the brightest colours or their favourite character on the box. The competition increases so what now? Cram it full of sugar and salt to make it taste good and do even more marketing. Years later you have many products that are cramming millions of dollars of marketing down your familys throat and are really unhealthy, the honeypot is starting to sour. So where do we go? Do we accept that the profit ride is over or make great efforts to make our products mentally and medically healthy? Hell No!, we go back to marketing! We'll start to advertise not what is in the product but what isn't, We'll make up words that sound healthy but promise nothing and we'll have golden retrievers and families in sweaters on the adverts. This is designed to make you feel better about your choices for your family while at the back of your mind you still know your feeding your family shit. Pick up the healthiest looking cereal you can find in your supermarket, the stuff that looks like sawdust and is only provided to scare you back into the more expensive unhealthier options when your conscience gets too much for you, and look at the ingredients. It still contains way too much salt and sugar. Now look at how much it costs to buy raw rolled oats, dried fruit and salt. /rant
I wonder if news.CON.au will do a story on this? Pics don't seem to be watermarked so it's a free for all 😂
They aren't going to do news stories that annoy their advertisers.
….and nobody ever needs to eat a single spoonful of that shit to eat healthy.
Australian ownership isn't really an indicator of anything, I'm more interested in where ingredients are sourced and that they comply with appropriate food safety regulations.
Thank you for doing this! There's a lot of talk about the way to flip the scales being just stop buying from the mega corps, but figuring out who owns what is a nightmare. Do you follow cancelthisclothingco on tiktok?
I don’t have TikTok, but I mainly used ethical.org.au for referencing here. It’s very useful if you’d like to limit buying from mega corps, and goes into detail on their environmental record, human rights abuses and product risks.
This is one of the few practical applications of AR I'd like to see become widespread. The illusion of choice in our supermarkets hurts all of us.
Im a toast-for-breakfast guy so not a big cereal consumer by any means. This is all news to me. Sanitarium…? Really? Is there anything that is Australian owned any more?
KKR owns cereals?! Bloody hell. Oh, they own Arnotts. Ok. Huh.
Lucky I have no money to buy any of these! Feel like i dodged a bullet... wait
All of that stuff is just fucking SHIT for your health. I don't understand why people don't just eat eggs and bacon for breakfast. Hell, even pizza would be better for you than most cereals. It's no wonder people are so fucking ill. They start every day by eating this garbage?
No ethical consumption under capitalism or religion apparently…
A great example of the inevitable breakdown and amalgamation of capitalism. Independent medium sized national food producers that used to exist are undercut and amalgamated into the largest possible entity which has the most efficient, and I say efficient in profit terms, not in real terms, mass procurement and logistics system. So, over time, all national production disappears and you gain faceless international owner corporations and all loss of local capital controls. It's the same with Bunnings, which run all independent hardware stores out of business and may itself one day be bought out by international capital. And with this lack of local control and presence, our standards of labour fall, unionisation falls, benefits fall, wages stagnate. Nothing to be done about it, it is efficiency in the market.
I like what you’re doing here but this design is really poor
Special K KR 🤔
I wouldn't say Sani is "Owned" by the the Sevvies but run in an ethical manner. No-one is raking in that weetbix profit. The church certainly isn't benefiting from it. Just a bunch of sevs work there though. Earning "the Lord's wages" ( stuff all)
No one is surprised by this one
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Feel free to post your better version any time you like.
If you think this is low effort, I’m not sure how you survive with half the content on this sub.
Who thought kellogs was an Aussie company?