Muesli with milk

The German food company Dr.Oetker has been defeated at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the last instance.

 

On the front of the packaging of a muesli mix (Vitalis Knuspermüsli Schoko & Keks), the manufacturer provided nutritional information that did not refer to 100g of the product at the time of sale, but to a specific preparation. The information referred to a preparation of 40g of the product with 60ml of milk (1.5%), which resulted in mathematically lower values for calorific value, fat, saturated fatty acids, sugar and salt. In the end, the case ended up before the ECJ, which clarified that this claim was not permissible because it gave rise to consumer confusion. The front label contradicts the compulsory label on the back and is a "calorie embellishment", as the appellant complained. In addition, the ECJ stated that the information must be "simple and easy to understand" and that other preparations, e.g. with fruit, fruit juice, yoghurt or curd cheese, are common.  

 

YOUR PLUS: You can rely on AGROLAB's professional competence in the legal assessment of analytical results and product labelling. If our experts had been presented with the product's labelling for examination, they would have strongly advised against the presentation now prohibited by the highest court.

 

Read more:

Court Case C388/20:

https://curia.europa.eu/

 

Author: Dr. Frank Mörsberger