Independent wholesale distributors are calling on the federal government to reconsider the $50 million food subsidy scheme for remote stores that rolled out on July 1 of this year.

Federal minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy touted the scheme as successfully delivering cheaper groceries across Australia.

"[Families have] told me they've got a real reduction in prices by at least 50 per cent for their families and that's what matters," Senator McCarthy said.

The scheme promises to price-match 30 essential product types and is administered by Commonwealth-owned corporation Outback Stores, which runs 58 remote grocers in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia.

Richard Forbes, chief executive of Independent Food Distributors Aust

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