Galatine, 80% milk? False! Lo IAP, Institute for Advertising Self-Discipline, has finally acknowledged Great Italian Food Trade’s report and imposed on Sperlari (1) to change its misleading advertising.
Galatine, the great deception
Great Italian Food Trade reported to IAP
, in August 2017, about the misleading advertising of Galatine
. Dwelling on some blatantly false messages:
– ‘
Fresh milk’?
False! Galatines do not contain milk, but rather milk powder. A product with quite different characteristics and nutritional properties, certainly not comparable to fresh milk. As also confirmed by AltroConsumo and from Cra-Nut (formerly Inran).
– ‘
80% milk’?
And when ever! The deception stems from the 40 percent milk powder in the white Galatines, which the clever people claimed was equivalent to 80 percent milk. But 80 also refers to cocoa Galatines, which instead contain only 33% powder (and thus, applying the equation 1 g powder = 2 g liquid, should, if anything, report 66%)
– ‘
Only good and natural ingredients
‘
? Lie! Fifty-five percent of Galatins are sugar and glucose syrup. About whom much can be written, for better or worse, except to ascribe to them a hypothetical ‘naturalness’. (2) Least of all to milk powder, transported by truck from who knows where after undergoing a concentration process-who knows when-that radically altered its characteristics.
Milk sounding, IAP dictates the line
The Control Committee of the Institute for Advertising Self-Discipline (IAP), ‘at the conclusion of the entire proceeding, asked the advertiser to prove the truthfulness of the claims “80% milk” and “Simple goodness with natural ingredients” made on Galatine product packaging and website pages.’
The IAP, ‘in light ofwhat has been produced, requested and eventually obtained from the advertiser the modification of the claims, as (…) “fresh milk” cannot be considered tout court an ‘ingredient’ of the candy and its presentation in percentage, with an articulated mathematical construction, can be potentially ambiguous‘. An understatement.
And it is the
Milk Sounding
– that is, the deceptive evocation of milk on foods that have little or nothing to do with it-the broader context in which the Galatine affair is framed.
The ‘
Milk Slices
‘
are another case we have already submitted to the IAP, which has ordered that references to the Italian-ness of milk and production be deleted. Unfortunately neglecting the most serious offense, referring to milk in a processed cheese. A brand Inalpi, already famous For fake alpine milk upon which Coldiretti maintained unprecedented secrecy. (3)
Sangemini water
is another case in point, where a bottle of mineral water-in total defiance of the rules on
Nutrition & Health Claims
(4) – is compared to a quart of milk
. Not forgetting Morato Pane and Conad’s ‘Milk Sandwiches,’ which show the glass of the white beverage but are instead made with the powder of unknown origin.
Milk sounding, antitrust and impunity
The Competition and Market Authority
received a complaint-on 3.11.17, from Great Italian Food Trade-about the unfair trade practices mentioned above, in theinvestigation dedicated to the
Milk Sounding
.
The
dossier
is now entrusted to the Directorate General for Consumer Protection of the Antitrust Authority, which by 2.5.18 – within 180 days, that is, from the date of receipt of our appeal – may decide whether or not to open an investigation. (5) In that it is endowed with unparalleled arbitrariness, resulting in no obligation to intervene even in cases of blatant violations of law such as those complained of. (6)
Theimpunity of these giants who continue to blatantly violate the rules is what is most striking and displeasing, the many food law and consumer protection enthusiasts like this writer. Where are the authorities of official public control, and where are the public prosecutors’ offices?
Cases of overt trade fraud, – or food fraud as you like, such as those of Galatines or fake alpine milk but also others, involving processed cheese (Inalpi again, in the company of Galbani e Mondelēz, case Cheese Scam) – must be punished.
Dario Dongo
PS: on Amazon
lacks any mandatory information (7) even in order to the Galatines
. But that is another story, pending intervention by both the Antitrust, as well as official public control authorities.
Notes
(1) Sperlari, formerly owned by the Swedish group
Cloetta
, was acquired in 2017 by Germany’s
Katjes International
. Moreover, the misleading advertising denounced by Great Italian Food Trade has continued steadily, not only in Italy but also in the rest of the world. So much for the so-called.
Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR), which many industry groups certify and declare in copious
reports
, except to then defraud consumers in blatant violation of cogent rules. As in this case and many others, including those of Cheese Scam still carried on by Inalpi, Mondelēz e Galbani–Lactalis. In this regard, see the articles
https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/etichette/cheese-scam-la-frode-a-fettine
e
https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/etichette/cheese-scam-la-frode-prosegue
(2) On the notion of ‘natural ingredient,’ valuable insights are offered by the
Food Standards Agency
(UK), at
https://www.food.gov.uk/northern-ireland/niregulation/niguidancenotes/fresh-pure-natural-ni
(3) It may be a coincidence, but Inalpi is associated with Coldiretti Cuneo, of which Roberto Moncalvo will become extraordinary commissioner upon completion of his rich tenure as national president. The fraud carried out by Inalpi evidently harms producers of dairy products made from real Alpine milk, but the majority remain silent and helpless. Ubi maior, minor cessat. It may be another case, but the Repressione Frodi (Fraud Repression), so far inactive on the Inalpi case, is subject to the political direction of another Cuneo native, the outgoing deputy minister of agricultural policies, Andrea Olivero
(4) See reg. EC 1924/06, Article 9
(5) Directorate C, File DS 2079
(6) Without prejudice to the duty to report crimes punishable ex officio–such as fraud in trade–of which public officials and public service officers become aware ‘in the course of or by reason of their duties or service‘ (Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 331)
(7) See reg. EU 1169/11, Article 14
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
