Asda wins fight over ‘nasty’ sweetener

July 15, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

Asda today won its court battle with a Japanese food company which sued the supermarket chain for calling the artificial sweetener aspartame “nasty”.

Ajinomoto Sweeteners, a leading producer of aspartame, took action after Asda announced in 2007 that it would become the first supermarket in Britain to remove artificial colours and flavours from its own brand labels.

In publicity for its “Good for you” range, Asda promised: “No hidden nasties – no artificial colours or flavours, no aspartame and no hydrogenated fats”.

Ajinomoto accused Asda at the High Court in London of malicious falsehood and said it was trying to protect the reputation of its products. The firm has a 45 per cent share of the European aspartame market.

But today Mr Justice Tugendhat ruled that the words complained of – on food packaging and a cola drink – did not mean that aspartame was potentially harmful or unhealthy.

He said the publicity was trying to convey the message “if you the customer think that aspartame may be bad for you, or unpleasant to taste or consume, then this product is for you”.

The judge said Ajinomoto had claimed that the words meant that aspartame is either an especially or potentially harmful and unhealthy sweetener and one which consumers concerned with their health would do well to avoid. Read full article