National Foods Limited's Berri Australian Fresh juice will be rebranded and its Daily Juice Company packaging will be amended following an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation.
The ACCC was concerned that the Berri Australian Fresh packaging suggested that it only contained juice that was recently squeezed, when in fact the products within this range may contain either fresh juice or a blend of fresh juice and aseptically stored juice.
Aseptically stored means the juice has been stored in sterile bags, typically for less than 12 months, after the juice has been extracted.*
National Foods has accepted that the Berri Australian Fresh packaging is likely to have misled some consumers and contravened the Trade Practices Act 1974.
The ACCC has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from National Foods which have agreed to change the brand name of Berri Australian Fresh to Australian Grown as soon as new packaging is available to ensure that no consumers are misled in the future.
"Some consumers may be prepared to pay a premium for fresh products," ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said. "Companies wanting to take advantage of consumer preference for fresh products have to be very careful that they do not make misleading claims."
In response to the ACCC's concerns, National Foods has also agreed to amend its Daily Juice Company packaging to make it clear that the products within this range contain a blend of fresh, reconstituted juice and sometimes juice that has been aseptically stored.
The court enforceable undertaking National Foods has offered in response to the ACCC's concerns requires the company to:
- cease supplying Berri Australian Fresh and Daily Juice Company products containing the old representations by 14 March 2011
- replace this stock with new packaging that would not mislead consumers, and
- publish corrective advertisements in major Sunday newspapers throughout Australia to alert Australian consumers to the contents of these juices while the new packaging is prepared.
*For more information on the use of aseptically stored juice in National Foods products see natfoods.com.au.