A food influencer with 400,000 followers recently posted a gushing recommendation for a new restaurant in Sydney. The caption read like a genuine review: specific dish recommendations, personal anecdotes about the atmosphere, a statement that “I’ll definitely be coming back.”

Buried at the very bottom, in tiny text: #ad.

This is the current state of food influencer culture in Australia, and it’s a problem that goes beyond individual posts.

The scale of undisclosed advertising

The ACCC updated its guidance on influencer marketing in 2024, making it clearer that commercial relationships must be disclosed prominently. Despite this, compliance in the food space remains patchy.

A 2025 analysis of food influencer content on Instagram found that roughly a third of posts that appeared to be sponsored (based on language patterns and relationship indicators) had no clear disclosure. Among those that did disclose, many used minimal or easily overlooked markers — a #ad hashtag at the end of a 2000-character caption, or “gifted” mentioned in passing.

The Australian Influencer Marketing Council has published best practice guidelines, but membership is voluntary and enforcement doesn’t exist.

Why food is different

Influencer marketing happens across all categories, but food carries specific risks.

When someone recommends a restaurant, their audience trusts that the recommendation is based on genuine experience. People spend real money based on that trust. A family driving across town for a restaurant dinner based on an influencer’s recommendation is making a meaningful financial commitment. If that recommendation was paid for, the audience deserves to know.

There’s also a health dimension. Food influencers who promote specific diets, supplements, or products without disclosing commercial relationships can influence people’s health decisions. When someone with no nutrition qualifications recommends a gut health supplement to hundreds of thousands of followers, and that recommendation was paid for, the potential for harm is real.

The defence

I’ve talked to several food influencers about this, and their defences are consistent.

“I only promote things I genuinely like.” Maybe. But the fact that you’re being paid inevitably affects how you present the product. Nobody pays $5,000 for a post and expects a balanced review.

“My audience knows I work with brands.” Some do. Many don’t. And even those who know in general might not identify specific posts as paid content.

“If I disclose too prominently, brands won’t work with me.” This is probably true, and it’s exactly the problem. The current system rewards opacity.

What should change

Platform-level enforcement. Instagram and TikTok have built-in tools for marking content as paid partnerships. These should be required, not optional, for any content involving commercial relationships. The platforms have the data to identify undisclosed partnerships and should act on it.

Regulatory teeth. The ACCC guidelines need enforcement behind them. A few high-profile fines for undisclosed food advertising would change behaviour across the industry overnight.

Industry self-regulation that actually works. The current voluntary codes are toothless. An industry body with real standards, monitoring, and consequences for non-compliance would be a start.

Audience education. We need to get better at reading influencer content critically. Not everything that looks like a recommendation is one. Look for disclosure markers, consider whether the praise seems calibrated or genuine, and be sceptical of content that’s uniformly positive.

The restaurants and brands

They’re part of this too. Restaurants and food brands that hire influencers and don’t require prominent disclosure are complicit. Some brands actively prefer minimal disclosure because it makes the content look more authentic. That’s deceptive by design.

The brands that do it right — requiring clear disclosure and accepting that the content will be clearly marked as advertising — deserve credit. They’re treating their audience with respect.

My position

I’ve been offered paid partnerships and have turned most of them down. Not because I’m morally superior — I haven’t turned down all of them — but because I want to be honest about what I’m recommending and why.

When I do work with a brand, it’s clearly disclosed. At the top of the post, not the bottom. In plain language, not a hashtag. That’s the minimum standard, and it should be the industry default.

Food is personal. What we eat, where we eat, how we spend our food budget — these are decisions that matter. The people influencing those decisions owe their audiences honesty.