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MOI International fined for misleading claims

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued fines to MOI International, the Australian and New Zealand subsidiary of Malaysian based MOI Foods, for misleading claims made on one of its olive oil products.

The two infringement notices which totalled $20,400, related to the company’s Mediterranean blend oil product which was labelled as 100 percent extra-virgin olive oil, but was found to contain predominately canola oil according to the Weekly Times Now.

Fine print of the side of the container revealed that only 7 percent of the product was extra virgin olive oil, and the remaining 93 percent comprised of canola oil.

ACCC Chairman Rod Sims, said that the term “extra virgin” is widely synonymous with a premium product and MOI’s product claim was misleading to consumers.

"Consumers should be able to trust that what's on the label is what's in the bottle when making purchasing decisions,” said Sims.

"Traders who mislead consumers in this manner leave themselves wide open to enforcement action from the ACCC."

The ACCC was originally alerted of the claim via the Australian Olive Association (AOA) after a consumer sent in a container of the bottle.

"Straight away it was evident that the label was intentionally deceptive, claiming to be the highest grade, when in fact it was 93 per cent canola," said Lisa Rowntree, president of the AOA.

Rowntree said that while she was pleased that the ACCC took prompt action with MOI International, the AOA was disappointed that ACCC chairman Rod Sims stated that there is still no mandatory standard for extra virgin olive oil.

"It is disappointing that despite the copious evidence presented to the ACCC about the wide practice of olive oil adulteration that costs consumers on average $57 million annually in Australia, not much is being done."

According to Rowntree, Supermarket giant Coles announced last year that they will be adopting the Australian Standards for their private label and home brands olive oils.

"We just need Coles to go that one step further and ensure all the olive oil they sell complies with the Australian Standard,” she said.

"Woolies claim to be the Fresh Food People, so it would be great if Woolies would ensure that their olive oil is `fresh' as well."

 

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