HOW TO READ FOOD LABELS
Knowing how to read food and nutrition labels is good consumer practice.
A German company marketed a fruit infusion called “Felix adventure
raspberry-vanilla”.
The packaging featured pictures of raspberries and vanilla flowers,
accompanied by the terms “fruit tea with natural flavors”, “fruit tea with natural flavors – raspberry-vanilla flavor” and
raspberry-vanilla flavor” and “only natural ingredients”. In fact, the fruit infusion did not
contained neither natural ingredients from vanilla or raspberry nor flavors obtained from them.
from them. The ingredient list that appeared on one side of the package reads:
“Hibiscus, apple, sweet blackberry leaves, orange peel, rosehip, natural flavoring with the taste of
vanilla, lemon zest, natural raspberry flavor, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, juniper berries”.
juniper berries”
The Court points out that in such a case the list of ingredients on food labels, although accurate and exhaustive, may not be sufficient to correct sufficiently the erroneous or equivocal impression which results, for the consumer, from the labelling of that product. Therefore, when the labelling of a foodstuff suggests the presence of an ingredient which is in fact absent (an absence which emerges only from the list of ingredients), such labelling is likely to mislead the purchaser as to the characteristics of the product.
Food labels must clearly and exhaustively indicate the content of ingredients.