ACCC Acts On Misrepresentation Of Honey Product
Wednesday 3 December 2014 @ 10.24 a.m. | Trade & Commerce
Hume Import & Export (Australia) Pty Ltd trading as Bera Foods (Bera Foods) has paid a penalty of $10,200 following the issue of an infringement notice by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The ACCC Action
The ACCC considered that by using the word “Honey” and including a map of Australia on the “Hi Honey” label, Bera Foods had misrepresented the product was Australian honey when in fact the product was predominantly composed of plant sugars and was produced in Turkey.
The infringement notice was issued to Bera Foods because the ACCC had reasonable grounds to believe Bera Foods had made a false or misleading representation about the composition of Bera Foods’ “Hi Honey” product, in contravention of s 29(1)(a) of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).
The ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said:
“The ACCC was concerned in this case because although ‘Hi Honey’ was labelled as honey, the product was not actually honey produced by honey bees. Honey suppliers must ensure any products they sell as ‘honey’ are in fact produced entirely by honey bees … Further, the inclusion of a prominent map of Australia on the Hi Honey label may have led consumers to conclude the product was produced in Australia when this was not the case. Credence claims such as this are a priority area for the ACCC, to ensure consumers are given accurate information about the content and origin of products.”
Reaction To The Penalty
Bera Foods general manager Ibrahim Ozdamar said when Bera Foods received the notice from the ACCC, it had already cleared all its stock of Hi Honey and was not planning to purchase any more. He commented:
“We stopped importing that a long time ago … We never imported it again because we don’t like the product quality itself.”
Ozdamar says there are still several importers selling the product in Australia and says it’s up to the ACCC to also find out those stockists. He says he believes the watchdog was “under pressure” from Australian honey producers.
Further ACCC Investigations
Earlier in 2014, the ACCC issued three Infringement Notices and accepted a court enforceable undertaking in relation to “Victoria Honey”, which was not produced by honey bees and was not a product of Victoria, Australia.
Recently, the ACCC also took steps to ensure suppliers of “Sunshine Honey”, “Hecham Honey”, “Brezzo Italian Red Gum Honey”, “Meg Myucku 100% natural honey” and “Golden Honey” ceased supply of the product and withdrew remaining stocks of the product from wholesale customers, because each of these products labelled as honey was not entirely produced by honey bees.
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Sources:
ACCC acts on 'Hi Honey' misrepresentations - ACCC Release MR 290/14
Hi Honey, I’m phony: Bera Foods hit with $10,000 fine after stocking fake honey – Article from smartcompany.com.au
