Supermarket Chain Coles Ordered To Pay $2.5M For False Advertisement Of ‘Fresh’ Bread Products

Coles has been ordered to pay $2.5 million for falsely claiming its bread products were “freshly baked.” Two years after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, or ACCC, accused the supermarket chain of misleading consumers, Coles has been fined in Federal Court for breaking Australian Consumer Law.

Their legal battle started in June 2013 when ACCC accused Coles of false advertisement. The supermarket giant claimed their bread products were “freshly baked,” “freshly baked in-store” and “baked today, sold today.” However, none of those claims were true.

The ACCC learnt that the products were made in other countries, such as Germany and Ireland, and frozen before they were brought to Australia. Their bread, sold under the brands Cuisine Royale and Coles Bakery, was only “par-baked” or partially baked in store.

Coles previously defended their bread’s labels, admitting that while it claimed the loaves were “fresh,” it also labelled the products with “Made in Ireland” tags. It told the Federal Court “consumers should not assume word ‘baked means ‘baked from scratch.’”

The Federal Court did not agree. In June 2014, it declared the Wesfarmers-owned supermarket chain guilty of misleading their consumers and breaching three sections of the Australian Consumer Law. The following September, it was ordered to place signs saying it passed off par-baked breads as fresh. The signs were to be posted in prominent areas of its branches for 90 days. It has also been banned from promoting par-baked products as fresh for three years.

Coles’ punishment did not end there. On Friday, the court ordered the grocery chain to pay $2.5 million in fines. The company has accepted the decision, although still insisting it is proud of the quality of their bread products “whether baked from scratch in-store or ‘par-baked’ by our Australian suppliers and finished in our ovens.”

“In talking to customers about our bread range we did not deliberately set out to mislead anybody, but we accept that we could have done a better job in explaining how these products are made,” a Coles spokesperson said following the decision.

To contact the writer, please email a.lu@ibtimes.com.au.