FOOD AND DRINK

Nowadays, nutrition is a very important issue for consumers, who want to be adequately informed about the food and drink that they purchase and who are increasingly mindful of the importance of a healthy, balanced diet.

Labelling requirements

In 2015, the Court reiterated that consumers must be provided with correct, neutral and objective information. Thus, if the labelling of a product gives the impression that it contains a particular ingredient which is actually not present in the product, the purchaser could be misled, even if the list of ingredients is correct. Such was the case of a fruit tea, the packaging of which depicted raspberries and vanilla flowers, even though the tea did not contain any natural ingredients from those fruits (judgment of 4 June 2015, Teekanne, C-195/14).

In addition, the sodium content indicated on the packaging of bottles of mineral water must reflect the total amount of sodium in all its forms (table salt and sodium bicarbonate). The consumer might be misled if mineral water were to be described as low in salt, even though it contained high levels of sodium bicarbonate (judgment of 17 December 2015, Neptune Distribution, C-157/14).