If ‘poultry salami’ is on the package, pork fat has no place in the sausage. This is what the North Rhine-Westphalian Court of Appeals in Münster decided (Case No. 9 A 517/20).
Consumers want to know what ingredients food contains. Misleading information can therefore be a violation of competition law, explains the law firm MTR Legal. This is also confirmed by a decision of the Münster Court of Appeals on August 15, 2022.
The underlying case involved a salami that ended up on store shelves labeled as ‘poultry salami.’ On the front of the package, ‘poultry salami’ was prominently displayed, and only on the back, under the bolded designation in much smaller print, was there the addition ‘with pork fat,’ which was also listed in the ingredients.
The local authority responsible for food monitoring in the district saw the product’s labeling and presentation as misleading to consumers and a violation of the Food Information Regulation. The Administrative Court Minden shared this assessment. The company producing the sausage disagreed. They argued that an expectation of the salami containing exclusively poultry exists only if labeled as ‘pure poultry.’ Furthermore, even in poultry salami, only poultry meat is used. Because pork fat is not meat, but rather added as a technologically necessary fat source and expected by the consumer as an ingredient, according to the manufacturer.
The Münster Court of Appeals did not follow this argument and rejected the application for an appeal against the judgment of the VG Minden. It justified this mainly by asserting that the ‘poultry salami’ labeling on the front of the package creates a false impression for the consumer regarding the food’s characteristics. The consumer expects the salami to consist exclusively of poultry meat and not also contain pork. This applies to pork fat or other parts of the pig, according to the court. This false impression is not corrected by the ‘with pork fat’ labeling on the back of the package, as consumer expectation is mainly influenced by the front labeling, according to the Münster Court of Appeals.
Violations of competition law can lead to warnings or injunctions. Lawyers experienced in competition law can provide advice.
