Cases

Ajinomoto Sweeteners Europe SAS v Asda Stores Ltd (No 2) (CA)

Facts

The Claimant company manufactured and sold the artificial sweetener aspartame. It brought a claim for malicious falsehood against the defendant supermarket chain in respect of certain statements on the packaging of the defendant's own-brand “Good for You” range of food and soft drink products. The packaging stated that the relevant product contained no aspartame and in certain cases also stated that the product contained "no hidden nasties". The claimant claimed that in their natural and ordinary meaning the words complained of meant that aspartame was (i) especially harmful or unhealthy, or (ii) potentially harmful or unhealthy, and (iii) something which consumers concerned for their health and that of their families would do well to avoid.

At the trial of a preliminary issue as to meaning, Tugendhat J held that the single-meaning rule applied and that, although a substantial number of consumers would have understood the packaging to suggest that there was a risk that aspartame was harmful or unhealthy, the application of the single-meaning rule meant that the meaning was that, if a customer thought that aspartame might be bad for him or unpleasant to taste or consume, then these products were for him.

The Claimant appealed, the Judge below having given permission to appeal.

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