Curious turn of events surrounding complaints about Blueband's Roombeter. Several consumers complained to the NVWA in 2023 about the name Roombeter because they thought they had bought cream butter. But Roombeter consists of 100% vegetable ingredients it says on the packaging. Concerned consumers felt badly misled. And that is prohibited under the labelling regulation.
But producer Upfield Nederland BV asked the NVWA what was so wrong about it and initially got away with it. Upfield produces several brands of margarine, food spreads and plant-based foods including Aetiva, Flora and Blue Band.
Through a WOO request, communications between the NVWA and Upfield have been released. It states that Upfield had had e-mail contact with the NVWA following the complaints. The NVWA official in question had indicated that the NVWA is not in charge of this but that the Advertising Code Committee should rule on it. Strange, because deception is a legal prohibition under the labelling regulation.
The Advertising Code Commission concluded that there was no deception and the complaints of several consumers were not upheld. Strange, the NVWA is not giving in and the Advertising Code Committee did not consult the law.
But, in early 2024, a fine still fell on the mat from Upfield Netherlands. 'The product Roombeter is misleading and the ingredient declaration is incorrect,' the fine report read. In the meantime, someone apparently woke up at the NVWA after all.
In the defence, Upfield's lawyer says: "Your finding of deception, we read in your letter, is based on the view that the use of the stylised 'E' in ROOMBETER would suggest butter. You even write that the letter 'O' would have been replaced by a 'butter curl "E"'. As for the latter, the first 'E' in ROOMBETER is not a substitute for an 'O'. Nor does Upfield suggest that this would refer to butter, and it is not a 'butter curl' but a margarine curl. The term ROOMBETER has been deliberately chosen by Upfield and as background information for use of this term is the importance that the world has been in a sustainability transition for many years."
So if I read it correctly, the sustainability transition gives Upfield the right to mislead consumers whereby they become above the law. Strange reasoning.
Besides deception, the NVWA had also found that the word 'cream' should not be used in a 100% vegetable product. The ingredient declaration was also incorrect. The ingredient 'preparation of broad beans' contains broad beans and glucose told an Upfield spokesperson in response to a question about what exactly that is. But glucose is not declared and it should not be. Why would Upfield not declare that and what else is in it that has not been declared? A fine of only €1050 has been issued for multiple offences.
NVWA's Roombeter photos
Photo bread and butter 'Designed by Freepik'
Source: https://open.overheid.nl/documenten/830065d6-fb34-4650-bb52-0c071d22120e/file
