The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has obtained orders by consent in the Federal Court in Melbourne against Australian Co-operative Foods Limited (ACF), in relation to making false representations on the packaging of certain cheese products.
Between February 6, 2008 and March 19, 2008 ACF, which trades as Dairy Farmers, allegedly sold Romano style cheese that it packaged and labelled as Parmesan style cheese.
The ACCC alleged that this conduct falsely represented the type of cheese and its nutritional attributes.
The affected brands of cheese were Mil Lel and Westacre.
In addition to declaring that ACF's conduct contravened sections 52, 53(a) and 55 of the Trade Practices Act 1974, the court also made orders:
- Restraining ACF from engaging in similar conduct for a period of three years
- Requiring ACF to publish on its website and send to business customers to whom it supplied the falsely labelled cheese a notice advising of the substitution and the false and misleading representations
- Requiring ACF to implement and maintain a trade practices compliance program, and
- Requiring ACF to pay the ACCC's costs of the proceeding.
ACCC Chairman, Graeme Samuel, while acknowledging ACF's cooperation in settling the matter said, "ACF made a deliberate decision to falsely label the cheese to reduce an excess stockpile of Romano style cheese.
"Where a company produces and markets distinct products it is simply not appropriate to substitute one for the other without clearly advising potential purchasers and amending other relevant representations on packaging.
"In this instance consumers who purchased both brands of the falsely labelled cheese got a product with a higher fat and lower calcium content than
that stated on the packaging."
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