Luxembourg, 05/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - In the Darbo ruling, the European court of Justice declared that garden fruit being inevitably exposed to pollution and pesticides, the Community directive relating to labeling does not prohibit the wording "purely natural" on strawberry jam containing low contents of lead, cadmium and pesticide redisue.
The company Darbo manufactures strawberry jam in austria marketed in that State, as in Germany, under the brand "d'arbo naturrein" (purely natural), called "garten Erdbeer" (garden strawberries) and a label mentioning its ingredients. In the ingredients it mentions the presence of vegetable jelly. The latter is made up of diluted acids from the internal parts of fruit skin, the rest of the fruits or sugar-beet cossette. Analyses however revealed traces or residues of other substances: less than 0.01 mg/kg of lead, 0.008 mg/kg of cadmuim, 0.016 mg/kg of procymidon (pesticide), and 0.005 mg/kg of vinclozine (pesticide).
The association combating anti-competitive practices in trade and industry had turned to the German courts to try to secure the end of the use of the wording "naturrein" on the labels. It considered that vegetable jelly was not an additive that consumders expected to find in this jam due to the wording "naturrein". It could not be qualified as being "purely natural". The Oberlanddesgericht of Cologne sent the case on to the Court of Justice and the latter has replied that the European "labeling" directive did not prohibit the use of the words "purely natural" in this case.
The Court recalls that the directive is intended to avoid any misleading of the consumer and that it was up to national jurisdiction to asses any misleading element of a name taking into consideration the presued expectation of an average consumer, normally informed and reasonably attentive. It explains that, in compliance with the directive, the presence of vegetable jelly in the jam is indicated on the label. Under these conditions, the Court concludes, an average consumer cannot be induced into error by the wording "purely natural". Vegetable jelly is moreover contained among a number of substances that could be added to special jams.
As for the lead, cadmium and pesticide residue, "they are not ingredients of the foodstuff and thus do not appear on the list of obligatory mentions", the Court explains, adding that the natural environment comprises the presence of these substances, notably due to ambient air pollution. Under these conditions, "even supposing that in certain cases consumers may be unaware of this reality and thus be induced into error, this risk remains minimum and cannot warrant an obstacle to the free movement of goods". It then adds that the same conclusion goes for the presence of traces of pesticide residue: the use of pesticides, including by individuals, is one of the most common means of combating the presence of harmful organisms. Garden strawberries being grown "naturally", any presence of pesticide residue cannot therefore be ruled out.
Regarding the content of these residues, the Court considers that d'arbo jam contains lead and cadmium residue 50 and 25 time respectively lower than the maximum values allowed by German legislation. As for the procymidon and vinclozoline pesticides residue, they are respectively 312 times and 1000 times lower than the values authorised by applicable Community legislation.