Lidl has fallen foul of Bord Bia after it wrongly used the food authority's stamp of approval on promotional leaflets advertising one of its fish products.
The German retailer had advertised its salmon darnes with pepper and garlic using the Bord Bia quality assurance stamp, complete with a shamrock and a tricolour.
However, fish are not covered by any quality assurance scheme.
“Bord Bia monitors all uses of its registered trademark and was in communication with Lidl regarding use of the quality mark promoting a salmon product,” a Bord Bia spokeswoman told The Irish Times.
“The issue has been corrected,” she said.
‘Human error’
A Lidl spokeswoman said the quality assurance stamp had appeared on the leaflets due to “human error during leaflet design”.
She said the Bord Bia logo appears frequently in Lidl’s leaflets, “as we work with over 180 Irish suppliers.
“One hundred per cent of our fresh beef, pork, lamb and chicken is Bord Bia-approved.
"The product in question comes from Keohane's Seafood in Cork, our main fish supplier, and is produced in Ireland.
“The fact the fish is processed in Ireland means that Lidl can still use the tricolour on the fish, despite the fact that the salmon was not caught in Irish waters.”
The spokeswoman said the use of the tricolour in such circumstances was “standard practice in the supermarket sector.
“Our packaging is 100 per cent compliant with all regulations and all information relating to origin is clearly marked, so we are absolutely not attempting to mislead anyone.”
She apologised for the error.
