Not So Sweet Result As Heinz Found To Mislead Consumers

The Federal Court in ACCC v H J Heinz Company Australia Limited [2018] FCA 360 has found that the packaging of the Little Kids Fruit and Veg SHREDZ fruit products range, produced by Heinz, misled the public to believe that the products were beneficial to the health of toddlers when in fact the products contained high sugar content and were detrimental to the health of children.

The case involved proceedings commenced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“the ACCC”) who claimed that the packaging of the Heinz SHREDZ product misled consumers into believing that the fruit bar was beneficial to the health of children when in fact the product contains so much sugar that the product more closely resembles confectionary than fruit or vegetables.

The claims by the ACCC focused on the prominent images of fruit and vegetables on the packaging and the statements that the product is “99% fruit and veg” and that “[o]ur range of snacks and meals encourages your toddler to independently discover the delicious taste of nutritious food”. The ACCC alleged that the imagery and words on the SHREDZ packaging implied the following misrepresentations:

1. the product was of the equivalent nutritional value to fruit and vegetables;
2. the product was nutritious and beneficial to the health of toddlers; and
3. the product encouraged the development of healthy eating habits for toddlers.

In order to be successful in its claim, the ACCC needed to prove that the packaging of the SHREDZ fruit bar conveyed false or misleading representations as to the nutritional value of the product.

The ACCC was unsuccessful in the first and third claims that the SHREDZ packaging conveyed the representation that the product was of the equivalent nutritional value to fruit and vegetables and that the products developed healthy eating habits for toddlers.

However, the ACCC was successful in its allegations that the packaging implied that the product was nutritious and beneficial to the health of toddlers through its packaging based on the use of the word “nutritious” on the packaging, the imagery of a natural tree, wholesome fruit and vegetables, natural colours and prominent statements that the product is “99% fruit and vegetables”. The Court also found the representation that the claim that the fruit bar was beneficial to the health of children, as implied by the packaging, to be false and misleading due to its high sugar content.

Ultimately, the Court found that by misrepresenting the health values of the SHREDZ products, Heinz engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and made false or misleading representations as to the products in contravention of the Australian Consumer Law.

Interestingly, despite that the statement that the fruit bar is made from 99% fruit and vegetables was accurate and that the packaging did not make any express claims that the product was healthy, the Court considered the combination of the imagery, colours and wording on the packaging to be sufficient to convey that the product was healthy.

This case should serve as a reminder to organisations marketing and designing packaging for their goods to be mindful that while the packaging might not explicitly represent something, the Courts are inclined to consider factors such as imagery, written statements and choice of colours when determining whether the packaging conveys a misrepresentation by implication.

If you have any queries relating to misleading and deceptive conduct, please contact our office.