Organic water claims misleading, says watchdog

Megan Levy
July 16, 2013
The Age

A number of bottled water companies will stop advertising their products as ‘‘organic’’ after the consumer watchdog said that such a claim was nonsense.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it had negotiated with seven bottled water sellers to change their names or risk action for misleading conduct.

“Organic standards acknowledge that water cannot be organic,” said ACCC deputy chairwoman Delia Rickard.
“Any claim that particular water is organic would therefore be misleading or deceptive.”

The companies affected are Active Organic, Lithgow Valley Springs Organic, Nature’s Best Organic, Organic Australia, Organic Falls, Organic Nature’s Best and Organic Springs.

An eighth supplier withdrew its product from sale.

Several of the companies had argued that the word ‘‘organic’’ was part of their brand name, and not a representation. But the consumer watchdog disagreed.

In the context of food and drink, the word “organic” refers to agricultural products that have been farmed according to certain practices and standards.

Because water is not an agricultural product it can not benefit from such practices and so it was inappropriate to label it “organic”, the ACCC said.

‘‘Manufacturers cannot hide misleading claims in their brand names,” Ms Rickard said.

She said the ACC was cracking down on ‘‘credence claims’’, whereby a product is said to possess a premium attribute.

“Credence claims such as ‘organic’ can be used to justify higher prices and create a competitive advantage for the user. As such it is essential that they are only used correctly,” she said.

“Consumers are increasingly making purchasing decisions that value the types of claims that directly affect the integrity of the product, such as where or how something was made, grown or produced.”

Consumers who see other brands of bottled water featuring ‘‘organic’’ claims have been urged to contact the ACCC.