Is it illegal to mis-label the country of origin of food in a supermarket ?

Usjes

Hi,

I have noticed something odd in my local supermarket. They are mislabelling the country of origin of loose fruit/vegetables and I'm wondering if this is legal and if not who I should address a complaint to. The items themselves are stored in baskets on the shelves and beneath each basket there is a printed label specifying the Price, variety and Country of Origin. The problem however is that the country of origin states Ireland but if I go in in the morning when they are stocking the shelves I can see the produce being delivered in big sealed plastic bags which list the address of the producer, Apples from the Netherlands for example, sometimes they just sit the bags in the basket and tear them open so I guess technically if the consumer was to examine the torn fragments of the bag they could determine the true origin of the product (although this is still at odds with the printed label) but frequently the packaging is removed completely so the only thing the consumer can see is the clearly printed label claiming that the fruit/vegetables are from Ireland. I assume misleading the consumer like this is illegal, am I correct ? Who should I complain to. Note that this is not a one-off I have observed it repeatedly over a couple of months.

Thanks,

Usjes.

Samuel T. Cogley

Advertising authority and whoever replaced the replacement for the replacement of the department of consumer affairs as it's a shelf edge.

ohnonotgmail

have you tried complaining to the shop?

Samuel T. Cogley

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

have you tried complaining to the shop?

If a shop has shelf edge issues you've already got a manager/staff that are overwhelmed, no point in complaining, it'll need a visit to sort. It's a massive pain in the arse issue to sort.

TheChizler

Let the shop know they might have missed the change in supplier.

Edit: Regarding the actual question (I never look at which forum I'm in, thought it was consumer isses) I have no idea but I presume it would actionable if they were shown to be either intentional or careless to the point of being negligent, but there's no reason to believe either.

ohnonotgmail

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

If a shop has shelf edge issues you've already got a manager/staff that are overwhelmed, no point in complaining, it'll need a visit to sort. It's a massive pain in the arse issue to sort.

or perhaps somebody just forgot to change a SEL and a reminder would resolve the issue really quickly. extrapolating to the staff being overwhelmed is just histrionics.

Samuel T. Cogley

TheChizler wrote: »

Let the shop know they might have missed the change in supplier.

Edit: Regarding the actual question (I never look at which forum I'm in, thought it was consumer isses) I have no idea but I presume it would actionable if they were shown to be either intentional or careless to the point of being negligent, but there's no reason to believe either.

Can't rise to negligence (IMHO) as would fail at the damage stage. Unless one was to make so notional claim about previous conflict/refugee status and psychological harm based on purchasing produce from a certain nation. However interestingly one could imagine some sort of scenario where contracts would not be properly formed on basic principles.

Victor

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Advertising authority

They only deal with advertising, not point of sale.

Its an EU requirement that fruit and vegs displays are labelled to show the country of origin. There would be penalties for non compliance but I'm unsure who actually enforces them in Ireland.

MrBobbyZ

I believe its the Department of Agriculture that do periodic inspections of retail premises. Country of Origin would be part of those inspections.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

CeilingFly

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Fresh produce is under remit of dept ag.

https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/farmingsectors/horticulture/freshfruitvegetablesmarketingstandardseu/

Samuel T. Cogley

Victor wrote: »

They only deal with advertising, not point of sale.

Shelf edges are an invitation to treat and therefore (IMHO) advertising.

Victor

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Shelf edges are an invitation to treat and therefore (IMHO) advertising.

Legally, yes. However, the Advertising Standards 'Authority' of Ireland (made up of marketing companies) make their own rules.

L1011

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Shelf edges are an invitation to treat and therefore (IMHO) advertising.

The ASAI don't consider them so; even if you convinced them they were they have zero actual power. Some major Irish firms who do not use advertising agencies have had ad after ad after ad 'banned' and nothing is done as nothing can be done - it relies on ad agencies to obey the "rulings" or requirements to pre-screen.

That said, I did get a major international firm to drop an international campaign after the ASAI forwarded my correspondence to them and they realised there was an unexpected meaning!

Usjes

Thanks for all the replies, so the consensus seems to be that it is the Department of Agriculture, I'll drop them an email and see what they can do.

Thanks,

Hunchback

Samuel T. Cogley wrote:

Can't rise to negligence (IMHO) as would fail at the damage stage. Unless one was to make so notional claim about previous conflict/refugee status and psychological harm based on purchasing produce from a certain nation. However interestingly one could imagine some sort of scenario where contracts would not be properly formed on basic principles.

Maybe an Irish apple producing competitor could show damage

Usjes

Well I sent a query to the Department of Agriculture and they responded requesting details of the shop so that they could investigate. I sent them the photos I had taken, it will be interesting to see how they deal with it although I'm not sure if they will keep me informed as to the outcome.

Oafley Jones

Usjes wrote: »

Well I sent a query to the Department of Agriculture and they responded requesting details of the shop so that they could investigate. I sent them the photos I had taken, it will be interesting to see how they deal with it although I'm not sure if they will keep me informed as to the outcome.

They'll raise it with the manager and they'll change it. I worked in a Dunnes Fruit and Veg dept. through college and I've also worked in the same office as the DAFM inspectors whose duty this is. If you see this in your local Store just say it to the staff. It's usually someone has bothered to update them and the manager hasn't noticed. It takes all of five minutes to fix.

Samuel T. Cogley

Hunchback wrote: »

Maybe an Irish apple producing competitor could show damage

They'd have to be the ones suing in that case and it's unlikely they'd go after one store.

Samuel T. Cogley

Oafley Jones wrote: »

They'll raise it with the manager and they'll change it. I worked in a Dunnes Fruit and Veg dept. through college and I've also worked in the same office as the DAFM inspectors whose duty this is. If you see this in your local Store just say it to the staff. It's usually someone has bothered to update them and the manager hasn't noticed. It takes all of five minutes to fix.

This, but you can bet your bottom dollar it's not the only area with SEL issues in the same shop.