A court has banned Australian supermarket chain Coles for three years from advertising that its bread was made or baked on the same day it was sold and has ordered the chain to display a Federal Court notice in its stores and on its website telling shoppers that it had broken Australian consumer law for false advertising.
Federal Court judge James Allsop handed down the ruling after Coles was found guilty in June for making false and misleading claims in advertisements in relation to the freshness of a range of Coles Bakery and Cuisine Royale-brand breads, reports Fairfax Media.
Coles had been found guilty of breaching three sections of Australian Consumer Law, by advertising to consumers that their bread was made on the day at the store when, in some cases, it had been partially baked months earlier in factories in Denmark, Germany and Ireland and then shipped frozen to Australia.
Coles must now tell consumers of the ban and the reasons for it, while the court is yet to make a decision on whether to fine the supermarket chain, which faces sanctions of more than $3 million.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission started its investigation after former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett complained upon discovering a loaf of Coles bread that was advertised as freshly baked in-store, but had actually been made in Ireland.
