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#Cereals#Confectionery and baked goods

Uncle Toby's

Uncle Tobys is an Australian food manufacturing company that specializes in breakfast oat products. Founded in 1861, the company has expanded its product range across the cereal and ready-to-eat snack market. After being acquired in 2006, Uncle Tobys is currently operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Nestlé.

Accusations

The company has been accused of engaging in a number of marketing malpractices, including misleading advertising and false labeling.

On September 13, 2006, Uncle Tobys Foods Pty Ltd, a major Australian food manufacturer, agreed to halt the misleading representation that its Roll Ups products are 'Made with 65% real fruit.' This decision followed concerns raised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) about the potential misrepresentation of Roll-Ups' composition to consumers. Uncle Tobys committed to discontinuing specific claims, including the percentage of real fruit in Roll-Ups, and agreed to revise its trade practices compliance program for Roll-Ups. The ACCC emphasized the importance of accurately portraying product information, highlighting the need for caution in how consumers perceive packaging and overall marketing representations.

After the mandate, the ACCC required Uncle Tobys to publish an article for the food industry, emphasizing the importance of advertising standards.[11] In the article, Uncle Tobys states: "The Key learning from this experience was that in making representations to consumers, we have to carefully consider how consumers might view both representations on the packaging and the overall impression created by all the aspects of product marketing, including labels, branding, and advertising."

In 2015, Cereal Partners Australia, the maker of Uncle Toby's oats, was fined $32,400 by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for misleading consumers about the protein content of certain Uncle Toby's oat products. The ACCC alleged that the packaging of Uncle Toby's Oats Quick Sachets and Traditional Oats included false or misleading representations about the products' protein content. While disclaimers were present on the packages, indicating that the protein content was based on preparation with specific amounts of skim milk, the ACCC argued that these disclaimers were in fine print below the misleading statements. The ACCC emphasized that fine print disclaimers were insufficient to rectify false or misleading representations prominently featured on packaging or in advertising.

Sources