Undertaking date

Undertaking type

s.87B undertaking

Reference number

D14/79938

Section

29(1)(a) and 29(1)(k) ACL

Company or individual details

  • Name

    Basfoods (Aust) Pty Ltd

    ACN

    115 242 281

Undertaking

The ACCC has accepted a section 87B Undertaking from Basfoods (Aust) Pty Ltd (Basfoods) following an investigation relating to breaches of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), contained in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the CCA). Basfoods has also paid three Infringement Notices issued by the ACCC in the amount of $30,600.

Basfoods represented on labelling and subsequently on its website that its product labelled “Victoria Honey” was honey produced by honey bees. The ACCC found that the sample of the product was comprised predominantly of sugars from C-4 plants, which include corn and sugar cane.

Basfoods also represented to its customers that Victoria, Australia was the place of origin of “Victoria Honey” when the product was from Turkey.

The ACCC raised its concerns regarding the sale of "Victoria Honey" with Basfoods. In response Basfoods:

  • ceased the supply of "Victoria Honey"; and
  • as a precautionary measure ceased the supply of other products sourced from the same Turkish supplier.

In response to allegations that Basfoods has breached the ACL, Basfoods has offered the ACCC a court enforceable undertaking that it will not make a representation that:

  • a product it supplies or offers for supply is honey unless the product is entirely produced by honey bees;
  • any honey in a product originates from a particular location or region, unless all, or virtually all, processes involved in the production or manufacture of that honey happened in that location or region; and
  • a product is of a certain standard, quality, value, grade or composition without a reasonable basis for making such a representation.

Basfoods will also:

  • every six months, obtain test reports for one sample of each product represented as honey it supplies or offers to supply;
  • implement a process for annual testing of the composition of random samples of products, other than honey, supplied by Basfoods;
  • publish corrective notices; and
  • implement a trade practices compliance program.