Ferrero ordered to label individual Raffaello pieces by German court

08-Nov-2017 - Last updated on 07-Nov-2017 at 15:17 GMT

Frankfurt court ruled that Ferrero must label the number of chocolates within a pack. Pic: Alpha

A district court judge in Frankfurt has ordered Ferrero to label the number of individually wrapped chocolates on its Raffaello’s packaging after a local consumer complained that the product only showed its total weight.

Raffaello coconut balls are currently available in three different sizes in Germany: 40 g, 150 g and 230 g. However, the consumer center in Hesse (Verbraucherzentrale Hessen), which helped the consumer bring the case against Ferrero, pointed out the Italian chocolate marker was in breach of the EU regulations.

According to the EU regulation, Annex IX 3 and 4, the net quantity of a food must be declared on the packaging when “a prepacked item consists of two or more individual prepacked items.”

However, “the indication of those particulars shall not be mandatory where the total number of individual packages can be clearly seen and easily counted from the outside and where at least one indication of the net quantity contained in each individual package can be clearly seen from the outside,” the law adds.

Even though Ferrero claimed its Raffaello wrappers were “separation aids,” the German court decided to classify them as individual packaging.

Ferrero said it had filed an appeal against the ruling because the result may affect the entire confectionery industry.

“In order to establish legal certainty for both Ferrero and the industry, and to reach a judgment in line with practice, the case has now been submitted to the Frankfurt High Court of Appeal for verification,” the company said in a statement.

A Ferrero’s spokesperson said the case was specific to Germany, and it does not affect Ferrero USA.