The Nuremberg Court of Appeals has upheld a complaint by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) on misleading food labeling. The lawsuit started off as a consumer complaint regarding a fruit juice at the online portal Lebensmittelklarheit.de. The legal action against Netto Marken-Discount AG & Co. KG includes the following details:
- The vzbv complaint relates to the misleading package design of Netto's multi-fruit rhubarb drink called "Active Fruits".
- The label "Raspberry Rhubarb" suggests a considerable proportion of rhubarb and raspberry juice of the overall beverage. However, the actual share of each juice is merely 0.1 percent. The Court of Appeals has upheld this complaint of consumer deception based on the misleading overall impression.
- The fact that groceries are often mislabeled in terms of content is one of the main consumer nuisances. More than 40 percent of consumer complaints at Lebensmittelklarheit.de refer to this kind of misleading product labels.
Klaus Müller, director of vzbv, commented on this: "The verdict is yet another success in the fight against consumer deception. To advertise with special ingredients that make up just 0.1 percent of the product is the opposite of true and clear labeling. We are calling on manufacturers to put an end to such labeling practices. "
Source: Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv)
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