walmart fined for fda type violations

from The Guardian

Asda was fined £5,000 yesterday for making illegal claims about the anti-cancer properties of its mangoes.
The supermarket chain, whose parent company is the American firm Wal-Mart, admitted contravening the Food Labelling Regulations 1996.

Swindon council's trading standards department took Asda to court after one of its officers spotted a sign while shopping in the Wiltshire town in June last year. The sign, relating to mangoes, read: "Their antioxidant properties help to fight cancer." The regulations state that any labelling claiming that a food prevents, treats or cures a disease is prohibited.

Magistrates in Swindon gave Asda the maximum fine of £5,000 and ordered it to pay £1,140 costs.

The firm had argued that though words in the claim were illegal, they were not untrue. Outside court, a spokeswoman for Asda said: "We think this is an absolute storm in a fruit basket. We cannot believe we are in the dock for telling people that eating fruit and vegetables is good for them."

For Asda, Nicholas Haggan QC said the sign was put out in error, having been written by a qualified company nutritionist but not approved by the company's trading standards team as was the supermarket's policy.

He said the putting up of the sign was "a genuine mistake made in good faith" and the company was "morally blameless". He argued it was not in the public interest to prosecute retailers over the promotion of healthy eating.

Phillip Wirth, for the council, said the case touched upon serious illness and individuals who suffer from these illnesses were "particularly vulnerable members of our society".