The Leon restaurant chain says it is seeking an independent review following an Advertising Standards Authority ruling that its use of the description ‘superfood’ breached UK advertising rules.
The ASA was responding to a complainant who had challenged the description ‘Original Superfood Salad’, an item on Leon’s menu which appears in online advertising. The complainant argued that the term superfood constituted a health claim and was therefore subject to EU health claims regulations (NHCR).
Under the terms of NHCR the term ‘superfood’ (considered a general health claim) can only be used when it is accompanied by a specific permitted health claim.
Leon Restaurants told the Authority that it was aware that the term ‘superfoods’ was a general health claim. However, the company is claiming that its Original Superfood Salad product name meets the terms of an exemption under the NHCR – Article 28(2) – that allows the continued use of trademarks or brand names that infer a health claim until January 2022, if they were registered and in use before 205.
Leon says its use of the term superfood had been “exclusively in the context of a brand name for a range of salads” which it had sold since 2004. But the ASA ruled that in the absence of a pre-2005 registered trade mark, Leon had failed to provide sufficient evidence to show that the claim met the terms of the exemption. It upheld the complaint and instructed the company not to use the advertisement again.
Leon has told nutraingredients.com that it “respects the ASA process” but that it is “taking the first step in applying for an independent review”.
