Yoghurt-maker has to rework its sales pitch
July 04, 2003 Edition -1
Maureen Marud
A leading brand of frozen yoghurt will no longer be advertised as "low fat".
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has accepted an undertaking from Marcel's Frozen Yoghurt to withdraw claims that it offers "all the health benefits of traditional yoghurt", is a "first in South Africa", contains "all natural ingredients" and "no artificial ingredients", is "low in cholesterol", "the healthy alternative", and "low fat".
Glenn Aquadro of Dessert-Tech SA, a firm of dessert developers, complained to the ASA that Marcel's was abusing customer rights by "misleading people who are on a diet or who suffer with heart ailments" when it was advertised as low-fat and low-cholesterol.
Aquadro submitted that Marcel's actual fat content was between 5.85% and 6.2%, which made it a high-fat dairy product in terms of the Agricultural Products Standards Act.
The claim on signage and packaging that Marcel's was "the healthy alternative" implied that it was healthier than other frozen desserts.
But levels of saturated fat and cholesterol in frozen yoghurt were far higher than in most frozen desserts, said Aquadro.
He also disputed the claim that Marcel's was "low cholesterol".
Used in conjunction with the "healthy alternative" claim, it implied that the cholesterol level was lower than in other frozen desserts. However, Marcel's cholesterol level was low only in relation to very high animal fat products, Aquadro claimed.
Marcel's did not contain all natural ingredients, he submitted. It was flavoured with synthetic nature-identical flavours.
The claim that Marcel's offered "all the health benefits of traditional yoghurt" implied that its spore concentration was similar to that of traditional yoghurt". But the spore concentration in frozen yoghurt was minimal.
To say Marcel's was a "first in South Africa" implied that it was the first distributor of an all-natural, low-fat and low-cholesterol frozen yoghurt.
Marcel van der Merwe, managing director of Marcel's, told the ASA he had no intention of deceiving customers or consumers.
He submitted a letter from his supplier testifying that only fresh milk collected daily from selected producers was provided. The fresh cream was separated for immediate use in Marcel's.
Van der Merwe undertook to withdraw the other claims.
The ASA ruled that the claim, "Marcel's Frozen Yoghurt is made with only the freshest ingredients available" had been substantiated, and did not contravene the code.
It accepted Van der Merwe's undertaking to withdraw the other claims on condition that they were withdrawn immediately within deadlines stipulated by the ASA.
"The present range of my products includes - apart from my original product which is made of fresh milk - cream and yoghurt, and contains viable live cultures to promote a healthy digestive tract; also fruit sorbets, new granadilla and strawberry frozen yoghurt which is flavoured purely with fruit pulp," said Van der Merwe.
He said he had laboratory results proving that Marcel's Frozen Yoghurt had a viable amount of live yoghurt cultures in accordance with Health Department regulations.
He added: "The fat content of my original product is 5%, as was always stated on my packaging. At 17mg/100g the cholesterol of my product is not a significant quantity."
He provided results of tests an independent laboratory had done on three of his products, including Marcel's bestseller, English Toffee frozen yoghurt.
According to those results, English Toffee's fat content was 4.77% last November.
Van der Merwe said Aquadro was a competitor who had had Marcel's Frozen Yoghurt analysed by the Agricultural Research Council because he was trying to match Marcel's overall product quality and health-giving properties.
Aquadro admitted that that had been his intention originally, "but I rejected Marcel's recipe after the analysis was done".
