Juice distributor corrects fruit juice labels

Holmac Sales Pty Ltd has acknowledged that the labelling on the Dewlands fruit juice products it distributed may have misled consumers.

Since July 2003 Holmac Sales imported and distributed the Dewlands fruit juice products to outlets across Australia. The Dewlands products were marketed as a 100 per cent fruit juice range.

"The company has now provided the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission with court-enforceable undertakings about its future behaviour", ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.

"The fruit juice industry as a whole has been put on notice about that claims it makes for its products*.

"In this case, the ACCC was concerned that the composition of the fruit juices was being misrepresented. In particular, the illustrations and representations on packaging of many of the Dewlands' range created the overall impression that the juices were 100 per cent of one kind. Many actually contained a blend of different fruit juices.

"The ACCC was also concerned that the products were labelled as '100% Fruit Juice', when the addition of vitamin C meant this was not so".

"Holmac Sales cooperated with the ACCC. Holmac Sales has undertaken that in future it will not create an overall impression that a juice product contains 100 per cent of a particular fruit juice, when the juice in fact contains numerous types of fruit juice. Nor will it represent a juice product to be 100 per cent fruit juice when vitamin C has been added. Holmac Sales has agreed to publish a corrective notice and will implement and maintain a trade practices law compliance program.

"The overall impression of labelling on fruit juice products can have a significant influence on a consumer's purchasing decision", Mr Samuel said. "Consumers are entitled to expect that the actual contents of a product match the overall impression given by the packaging".