What you need to know
- Queensland Yoghurt has been issued with an infringement notice and a penalty of $12,600 for failing to list gelatine as an ingredient in some of its yoghurt products when those products contained gelatine.
- The ACCC alleged that this amounted to false and misleading conduct under the Australian Consumer Law. It was also a failure to comply with the labelling requirements under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.
What you need to do
- Ensure that all ingredients contained in your products are included in the ingredient list, and make sure your products comply with all other labelling requirements and are not in any way misleading.
- Be aware that representations relating to food are an enforcement priority for the ACCC in 2020.
Queensland Yoghurt Company Pty Ltd was issued with an infringement notice by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) because it did not disclose that gelatine was an ingredient in some of its yoghurt products. As a result of the infringement notice, Queensland Yoghurt agreed to pay a penalty of $12,600 set by the ACCC.
The ACCC alleged that this conduct took place from at least 2 July 2019. The ACCC alleged that the omission of gelatine from the ingredient list of the relevant products meant that Queensland Yoghurt engaged in false or misleading conduct in contravention of the Australian Consumer Law.
A representative from the ACCC stated that the omission would be of particular concern to those consumers who do not consume gelatine because of dietary, religious, environmental or ethical reasons. The products were likely to also have been more appealing to consumers than other yoghurt products because they were represented as being gelatine-free.
The omission of gelatine from the ingredient lists of the affected products also meant that Queensland Yoghurt was not complying with its labelling requirements under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.
Authors: Annika Barrett, Senior Expertise Lawyer; Kellech Smith Partner.
