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Foodwatch lawsuit: Amazon has to name the origin of fruits and vegetables

2021-02-18T14:01:13.958Z


Whoever orders grapes from Amazon Fresh used to be given up to 13 possible countries of origin. The OLG Munich has now banned this.


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An Amazon Fresh grocery delivery in New York

Photo: Brendan McDermid / REUTERS

Do the grapes come from South Africa or Italy?

The apple from Chile or the old country?

In future, the online retailer Amazon Fresh will also have to tell its customers where the fruit and vegetables come from when they order.

This was decided by the Munich Higher Regional Court and thus confirmed a corresponding judgment by the Munich Regional Court.

The consumer organization Foodwatch sued Amazon because the company had disregarded European requirements for labeling of origin.

Instead of specifying where the fruits and vegetables on offer come from, Amazon stated up to 13 possible countries of origin.

The judges have now decided that, according to the EU regulation, consumers must be given the country in which the fruit and vegetables were harvested.

An indication of more than a dozen countries of origin for grapes or the delivery of mangoes from Israel instead of mangoes ordered from Senegal violates these requirements, said Senate Chairman Andreas Müller.

"Perhaps I would like to have grapes from a European country in the fall and not from South Africa," said the judge.

Legislators want to protect consumers with transparent product information.

Amazon: labeling requirement already implemented

Amazon argued against it that specifying only one country of origin in online grocery stores is not possible.

That not a single online grocery retailer fulfills the requirements.

And that customers wouldn't expect that either.

If strawberries were ordered for a festival in three weeks, it depends on the weather and the harvest where the goods come from, said the Amazon lawyer.

»The judgment from Munich sends out a signal to the entire food trade on the Internet and must result in a reform of food monitoring.

The Amazon Fresh case makes it clear that the control of online shops does not work, ”said Oliver Huizinga from Foodwatch.

On request, Amazon stated that its delivery service was already implementing the information and labeling requirements.

"Customers in the Amazon Fresh range can see the country of origin of the respective product at any time before buying and then receive the product according to the designated country of origin," the company informed SPIEGEL.

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caw / hej / dpa

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2021-02-18

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