Major Australian food processor Golden Circle Limited will stop labelling certain apple and orange fruit juice and drink product that contain high levels of imported concentrate as 'Australian Made' and delete reference to 'Australian Grown' on its corporate logo on these products.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accepted court-enforceable undertakings from Golden Circle after examining the labelling of orange juice, apple juice and orange fruit drinks.
‘The labels said the beverages were 'Australian Grown', 'Australian Made' and 'Made in Australia from quality local and imported ingredients subject to seasonal availability',’ ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today. ‘In fact, from 1995 to 1997 all these products contained substantial amounts of imported orange and/or apple juice concentrate.
‘The ACCC believes the high levels of imported concentrate made it misleading to use the company logo containing 'Australian Grown' and 'Made in Australia' or 'Australian made' labels. The ACCC also believes the 'Made in Australia from quality local and imported ingredients subject to seasonal availability' was misleading as the use of imported concentrate occurred over three years and shortfalls in Australian production would not have been unexpected.
‘In the undertakings, Golden Circle has agreed to:
- review and amend, where necessary, its products' labelling
- publish a corrective and explanatory notice to consumers Australia-wide, and
- implement a trade practices corporate compliance program.
‘The ACCC acknowledges Golden Circle's cooperation and assistance to resolve this matter, thus avoiding the time and cost of litigation. The ACCC takes seriously potentially misleading claims about product's country or origin as many consumers place great importance on buying Australian product.
‘The ACCC was also concerned to protect Australian producers of citrus and other fruit.’
The ACCC's assessment of the matter occurred before new laws covering country of origin were enacted. The changes provide defences for corporations that make such representations. Under the new law a corporation has a country-of-origin defence if the goods are substantially transformed in the country that is the subject of the claim and 50 per cent or more of the cost of production/manufacture occurred in that country.
‘The ACCC will shortly act as host to a series of free seminars across Australia on the new laws and issue a guide to country of origin claims.