Maggie Beer apologises for misleading labelling

Maggie Beer has come under scrutiny from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) about the labelling of some of her products.

The ACCC says labelling on Maggie Beer Products ice-cream, aged red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and rosemary and verjuice biscuits may have misled consumers into believing they were made in the Barossa Valley when they were in fact manufactured in Victoria and Queensland.

The company has acknowledged that its product labelling (and several other representations of its products) is likely to have contravened sections 18 and 29(1)(k) of the Australian Consumer Law.

One of the labels in question.

Of the 200+ products the company makes, only four are made interstate, Beer says.

“I have never hidden that these four product lines were not made in the Barossa or in South Australia,” Beer said on a video on her website.

“I also understand - and absolutely accept - the ACCC’s point. Labels must be 100% accurate. The agreement I have reached with the ACCC is that my labels, going forward, will include the region or the state in which they are made.

“I apologise unreservedly to anyone who feels they may have been misled by the old labels on these four products. We have followed every FSANZ regulation to the letter. I would never want to mislead anyone, but I do understand the point the ACCC are making. I believe so much in provenance and every label must be 100% accurate.”

Maggie Beer Products has cooperated with the ACCC’s investigation and will amend its labelling so the place of manufacture is made clear.