Did you pay 50% more than you should have for Newman's Own Organics Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil? You might have if you bought a 16.9 ounce bottle with the wrong label on the back: one that says it contains 50 servings. That label, which includes the UPC code and thus the price identifier, belongs on the 25.3 ounce bottle. (That's 500 ml vs. 750 ml. for metric fans.)
I'm surprised and disappointed by the lack of response from Newman's Own Organics to my complaint about the label and price for the big bottle of olive oil being on the small bottle. If it is a one-time error involving "only" a few thousand bottles that they handle responsibly once notified, then why not let me know?
A wall of silence when a manufacturer is found misrepresenting a product is not acceptable. While this problem is trivial compared to the egg debacle, it could mean that thousands of customers paid $15 for a $10 bottle of olive oil. Mislabeled bottles could still on the shelves. And worse ...
It weakens the food labeling laws. The point is not to just have a random label on the product. It's to have a label that accurately informs the customer about the contents.
When I contacted Newman's Own Organics, Peggy Westenhofer, the Director of Customer Relations, wrote:
The following information in blue is from our Product Development Manager-
Our 16.9oz bottle actually states that there are about 34 servings per container.
Our 25.3oz bottle states that there are about 50 servings per container.
A serving for either size is 1 tablespoon or 15ml.
Yes, I'm sure that's the right idea. But my bottle and ones that were still on the shelves at the Harris Teeter had the labels mixed up on the small bottle. My husband, who is a manufacturing engineer, says that it's possible that thousands of bottles were mislabeled.
Grocery chain Harris Teeter is doing the right thing, though. The manager (Steve) pulled the mislabeled bottles off the shelves when I notified him of the problem and has contacted HT corporate quality assurance. In a follow-up call, Steve assured me that the mislabeled bottles are no longer on the shelves at Harris Teeter. but still no word from Newman's Own Organics.
So I've filed a complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General's office. The complaint form asked me what I'd consider to be a fair resolution. Here's my response:
Newman's Own should contact the stores that might have mislabeled bottles and make sure that customers are not being overcharged or misinformed. They should offer a 50%-off coupon to people who may have been overcharged. I would like to hear their response. A wall of silence in a food-related problem is unacceptable.
It's hard for an individual to get a glimmer of what's going on in food manufacturing. So when an error does become apparent, we want to know that it is being handled well. This implies that other problems we don't know about are being handled well.
But when the response is no response, then I get worried. Even when the company has the sterling reputation of Newman's Own Organics. Heck, I used to go out of my way to buy BP oil because I thought they were the best for the environment and the workers.
Check your label if you have this oil. If you've got a label mismatch, please leave your city and the store where you bought it in the comments.
[This diary combines two blog posts on my Cook for Good blog, where I'll be tracking the story.]
Update: Problem Resolved I just got this response from Newman's. I added the bolding:
We have reached out to our manufacturing plant and are investigating your concern.
We would like to send you either a replacement bottle of the 25.3oz size, or some of our other products (cookies, pretzels, popcorn, candy).
Should we hear from any other customers we will, of course, be offering the same type of replacement.
Thank you for making us aware of your experience. We appreciate hearing from our customers.
Don't contact them if you don't have a mislabeled bottle. But if you paid for big and got small, then let them make it right.
[Update 2] Once Newman's Own Organics really understood the problem, they called and emailed me to understand the situation and make it right. The last call was from Product Assistant Dory Mansfield, who gave me this background. Turns out that Newman's had known about this problem months ago but thought it was solved. It seems that the bad labels went nearly exclusively to Harris Teeter. First Newman's recalled the mislabeled oil from the warehouses. Then they asked HT to pull the oil from the store shelves. Since HT only carries the small bottles, customers couldn't get charged for the big bottles. If one slipped through, the UPC code would not be recognized at the cash register and any problem could be caught. Some smaller stores may have also gotten the mislabeled bottles and of course someone counting on getting 50 tablespoons out of that bottle would be disappointed, but the problem was largely contained.
Unfortunately, it seems that at my HT store and maybe elsewhere, not all the bottles were returned and someone "fixed" the UPC database so it recognized the code for the bigger bottle.
Newman's has contacted HT and asked its own brokers to recheck for mislabeled bottles.
My respect for Newman's Own has actually grown with this incident. They went the extra mile to make sure that their customers were treated fairly. Dory said "We take these things very seriously" and their actions show this to be true.