ALDI ‘apologises unreservedly for this error to its customers and producers’
A LEADING German supermarket yesterday admitted to effectively misleading European consumers by selling re-labelled Israeli Grapefruit as a product of Cyprus before passing it on to the public.
It has been claimed the decision to pass off the Israeli fruit by the German ALDI chain came after a widespread boycott of Israeli goods in the aftermath of the Israel’s invasion into Gaza in December.
Since then, shoppers across Ireland especially, have been turning their backs on Israeli goods such as fruit, vegetables and electronics and it is thought that stockpiles of Israeli produce are rotting at supply depots.
One Irish consumer, in a letter to the Cyprus Mail said: “I for one will be boycotting all products from Cyprus until I can be assured that it is not in fact Israeli produce and I will be advising all others to do likewise. This is something which can do serious damage to citrus farmers in Cyprus.”
In a written statement sent directly to the Cyprus Mail last night, ALDI claimed that the gaff was down to a supplier packaging error and affected approximately 10 per cent of all grapefruit sold in their Irish branches.
“The grapefruit was incorrectly labeled as coming from Cyprus when it should have been labeled as coming from Israel. As soon as it became aware of the issue, ALDI corrected it, and all grapefruit now being sold is properly labeled,” the statement read.
It is understood that ALDI’S’s suppliers are Israeli.
The Cyprus Mail can also reveal that prior to the ALDI admission; the Cypriot Ambassador to Dublin sent an urgent report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the Ministry of Commerce about the situation.
“My report has been passed on to the relevant ministries in Nicosia, I am fully informed about the grapefruit situation,” Ambassador Sotos A. Liassides told the Mail.
Irish Ambassador Tom Brady said yesterday he was unaware of the situation, and had not as yet, anyway, been contacted by the Cypriot authorities.
The revelations about the re-labeling were first made by consumer Tommy Donlan, who told the Cyprus Mail that the manager of an ALDI store in Galway completely ignored him when confronted about the suspicious fruit.
“They are portraying the product as something it is not. The con is quite brazen, in some cases they didn’t even bother to take the Israeli stickers or code numbers from the packaging, the colour is different, it’s all pretty shabby really.”
Donlan took a series of photographs of the grapefruit, which show packages labeled ‘Cyprus Products’ remarkably still had tiny circular stickers on the exterior of the fruit marked ‘Carmel’- a citrus region of Israel.
“Mangers at four ALDI stores told me they were no longer selling Israeli produce, they lied,” he added.
Donlan also dismissed ALDI’s statement of a packaging error as “utter rubbish”.
“This is just another PR creative exercise with the truth; it’s a barefaced lie to put it mildly. ALDI knew what they were doing and that is trying to shift unwanted Israeli stock as being from Cyprus.”
The ALDI error will be viewed dimly by the EU, whose strict food labeling laws are designed to inform purchasers of the properties, origin, ingredients, nature and characteristics of the food they buy and that labelling should not mislead consumers.
The EU stresses that the information contained on food labels must not make misleading or false claims.
ALDI said in their statement to the Mail they would be taking action to ensure such an occurrence was not repeated.
“ALDI apologises unreservedly for this error to its customers and producers. It is company policy that all produce sold has its country of origin correctly labelled. This is the responsibility of suppliers to ALDI and they are fully aware of their obligations in this regard. ALDI has taken steps to ensure this does not happen again.
Environmental Health Officers from the Health Service Executive who are under contract to Food Safety Authority of Ireland are also said to have become involved in the issue, but were unavailable for comment yesterday.
It is understood that some members of farming unions in Cyprus are furious about the claims and have been seeking clarification from the Ministry of Agriculture in Nicosia.
Cyprus grapefruit, despite being low in production, is regarded as among the best in the world. It has a high juice and sugar content which is a result of virtually perfect growing conditions.
PHOTO: An Israeli Carmel sticker still clearly visible underneath the plastic label marked ‘Produce of Cyprus’.
