ACCC Acts on Product Misrepresentation from Aldi and Menora Foods
Wednesday 23 November 2016 @ 9.41 a.m. | Trade & Commerce
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accepted Court Enforceable Undertakings from ALDI Foods Pty Limited (Aldi) and Monde Nissin (Australia) Pty Ltd trading as Menora Foods (Menora) and resolved concerns with three other suppliers about the composition of their respective products labelled as “Oregano”.
Background to the Investigation
The ACCC initiated an investigation into a number of products labelled as “Oregano” following a complaint from the consumer advocate group, Choice, which included tests reports suggesting that these products were not 100% oregano.
When the ACCC brought these matters to Aldi and Menora’s attention, both companies took a number of steps to address the ACCC’s concerns and accepted their conduct was likely to mislead consumers and contravene the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) [the ACL is contained in Sch 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)].
The products in question were:
- Aldi’s Stonemill brand of oregano sold exclusively at Aldi; and
- Menora's brand of oregano available at IGA and independent food services across Victoria, NSW, WA and SA.
The Choice findings
The consumer group brought the issue of “fake” oregano to the ACCC’s attention in early 2016 following their own investigation, during which only five of 12 tested samples proved to be 100% oregano.
The other seven:
- Master of Spices;
- Hoyt's;
- Stonemill (Aldi);
- Spice & Co;
- Menora;
- Spencers; and
- G Fresh
contained ingredients including olive leaves (in all seven samples) and sumac leaves (in two of the samples). In all, ingredients other than oregano made up between 50% and 90% of the adulterated samples.
Comment from the ACCC
The ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in an ACCC Media Release:
“By labelling their products as ‘Oregano’, both Aldi and Menora represented to consumers that their products contained only oregano...Suppliers of food products have an obligation to ensure ingredients of their products are accurately labelled and should be able to substantiate any representations made on the packaging that they approve.”
Corrective action taken by both Companies
Both Aldi and Menora have provided undertakings to regularly obtain test reports which confirm the composition of their products labelled as “Oregano”. They have also undertaken to implement testing of the composition of a number of other herb and spice products.
To improve clarity in the industry, the ACCC has also agreed to administrative resolutions with the smaller suppliers of “G Fresh Oregano Leaves “Mediterranean”, “Master of Spices Oregano Leaves” and “Spice & Co. Oregano Leaves” which ensure they cease supply of oregano products that contain contents other than oregano leaves and will take steps to confirm the authenticity of their oregano products for future supply.
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Sources:
ACCC acts on ‘Oregano’ misrepresentations – ACCC Release MR 210/16
ACCC takes action on fake oregano - www.choice.com.au
