Australia may limit Vegemite sales amid ‘alcohol abuse’

Scullion urged local businesses and communities to be vigilant and to report any suspicious Vegemite purchases.

The yeast-based spread Vegemite is a quirky culinary product that draws a love or hate reaction from anyone who tries it. In some instances children in communities were failing to turn up to school because they were too hung over from the home brew, he said.

“Addiction of any type is a concern but communities, especially where alcohol is banned, must work to ensure home brewing of this type does not occur,” said Mr Sculllion.

But prime minister Tony Abbott has no plans to institute a nationwide ban on the dark brown spread or to create any sort of “Vegemite watch”, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

‘We’re talking about an isolated problem in a couple of communities around a very large nation, and a nation where there is a very large number of Aboriginal communities, and every community is different, ‘ he told the BBC. Under the state’s laws, making homebrew is an offence in communities where alcohol is banned.

Australia is considering limiting sales of the popular Vegemite spread in some areas following reports it is being used to brew homemade alcohol.

“This is a deregulatory Government and the last thing I want to do is to have a Vegemite watch… because Vegemite, quite properly, is for most people a reasonably nutritious spread on your morning toast or on your sandwiches”, he said.

A 2010 report by government body the Australian Institute of Criminology found that “alcohol is now regarded as one, if not the, primary risk factor for violence in indigenous communities”.