Red Rooster responds to accusations of misleading customers
Red Rooster released the following statement in response to recent claims that they're misleading customers.
"With reference to a media item published in Fairfax Media today, the claims reportedly made by the Food Intolerance Network are not an accurate reflection of what Red Rooster pledged in advertising and we reject any suggestion we intended to mislead our customers.
We firmly stand by our commitment to customers made in advertising that there are no artificial colours, flavours or added MSG present in any meals we prepare.
Last year we adopted this industry-leading stance in which we proactively removed these ingredients from our prepared menu. This involved reformulating or removing more than 10 products across our menu.
This has been verified by Silliker, a global leader in food safety and quality, who acted as an independent auditor to ensure everything prepared by Red Rooster was free of artificial colours, flavours or added MSG.
The Food Intolerance Network bases the majority of its concerns about advertising accuracy on the presence of some preservatives across our menu. Red Rooster makes no preservativefree claims in our advertising except in the case of Chicken Nuggets, and this is an accurate and certified claim. Cheesy Nuggets, which are a different product, are not included in this claim.
Similarly, the Food Intolerance Network claim that our canola oil is not 100% Australian is completely rejected by Red Rooster and our supplier.
For complete transparency, all ingredients across our entire menu are clearly displayed on our website and are approved for consumption by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand. It is always our intention to deal honestly and transparently with our customers. To that end, we have clarified wording on our website that appears next to a large graphic titled 'No artificial colours or flavours'. The words 'anything artificial' in this section has been replaced with the words “any artificial colours or flavours” to ensure absolute consistency with our advertising copy.
Despite its claims about our menu, Red Rooster has no record of any contact or complaint from the Food Intolerance Network. However, we would be happy to sit down with their members to provide clarity around the issues they have raised and to correct some unfounded claims."
