GE Free New Zealand in Food & Environment, 15th March 2005

Cadbury's GE Ice Cream Confuses Consumers

New Zealanders may have been mislead into buying Cadbury Ice Cream believing it to be GE-free after consumers queries went to the Cadbury manufacturer in the UK by mistake.

New Zealand consumers who e-mailed Cadbury to ask them to commit to supplying GE-free ice-cream received a response informing them the ice cream was already GE-free. Unfortunately the policy does not apply to New Zealand, as Cadbury have different GE-policies for New Zealand and the UK.

The fact that Cadbury ice cream in New Zealand may contain GE ingredients would normally prompt many people to boycott their products, but many customers will be confused by the company's double standards.
The contradictory policy was only identified by chance after GE-free consumer networks listed the UK email address in error. The mistake has since been corrected.

The contradictory policies have prompted complaints to Cadbury and the Commerce Commission over the dual-policy misleading people- especially New Zealanders who come from Britain, or are visiting from Europe and expecting Cadbury to have a consistent GE Free policy. What's good enough for their UK customers should be good enough for New Zealanders.

Because of its English heritage and reputation many New Zealand customers would expect all Cadbury products to be GE-free. It's concerning that a previously reputable brand should dismiss the wishes of the majority of its New Zealand customers when its UK counterpart respects those wishes.

People who emailed the UK and were misled into thinking Cadbury ice-cream in New Zealand was GE-free should check with the manufacturer here to identify any GE- derived ingredients. If any have been used customers can return the product to the supermarket for a refund.

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Jon Carapiet 0210 507 681


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