with consumer organization Stiftung Warentest after a poor review of one of their chocolate brands, Ritter Sport has won its first legal battle.The District Court of Munich yesterday issued a temporary injunction against Stiftung Warentest, prohibiting them from saying that Ritter Sport uses chemically produced flavors in its chocolate.
Last week Stiftung Warentest lablled Ritter Sport's full-nut advertised chocolate bar as "poor", because, contrary to package information, it contained the chemically produced flavoring agent piperonal.
Ritter Sport was outraged over the review and pointed toward a guarantee given by its flavoring manufacturer Symrise, that only natural ingredients are used.
"We have delivered a precursor, which completely corresponds to the declaration. These are only natural flavors, and we can prove that too," said a Symrise spokesperson.
Warentest then defended their review process. "We do not deny that piperonal occurs in nature," said the head of the test, Birgit Rehlender.
"But the traces of which are found in plants are never enough to industrially produce tradable amounts of it."
German media outlets are predicting that this is not the last we will hear from the dispute.
