Sarah Whyte, Esther Han and Laura House
June 14, 2013
The Age
Coles supermarkets are selling bakery goods as ”freshly baked” even though they were made up to six months earlier in Europe.
Croissants, danishes and muffins are being shipped frozen from Germany, Belgium and Denmark.
Janet Blythman, the head of the National Baking Industry Association, said a range of baked products from overseas would be shipped snap frozen. It would take a minimum of 10 weeks to reach Australia from Europe, she said. In its frozen state it would have a maximum shelf life of six to 12 months.
”The products will still deteriorate,” she said. ”The bread involved would be mostly of the artisan style. Coles is unlikely to air freight it over.”
The dispute threatens to drag in other supermarkets.
Coles is ”vigorously defending” itself against action being taken by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in the Federal Court that its advertising of bakery goods is misleading.
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett sparked the furore after he complained last year about Coles’ promotion of a ”freshly” baked product, Cuisine Royale, which was made in Ireland.
Katia Abouthrouche, whose husband manages the Annandale IGA store, said their bread came from Germany and would stay in their freezer until it was needed.
”It’s freshly baked in the morning,” Katia Abouthrouche said.
”The people love it fresh.”
But some consumers are concerned. Donna Ng, from Zetland, thought there was an error when she bought ”freshly baked” Danish pastries that were labelled ”made in Czech Republic” from Coles at Waterloo. So she used Facebook to inform them of the error.
The media spokeswoman replied: ”These products, such as the one you have highlighted above are transported uncooked and frozen, and are then baked in stores. Many of these products are made locally, but some are imported. We clearly label them, so customers can make an informed decision.”
A spokesman for Woolworths, Benedict Brook, said ”all Woolworths bread is made in Australia”.
A Coles spokeswoman said the ”the vast majority of our bakery and par-bake products are Australian made, from suppliers such as Bread Solutions.”
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