(Bloomberg) -- KKR & Co.’s food company Upfield BV was ordered by a court to stop marketing its plant-based spread with a name that has a likeness to the Dutch word for butter.
Certain words like butter or cream may only be used for dairy products, an Utrecht court ruled on Tuesday. Upfield was ordered to stop marketing the Blue Band product as ‘Roombeter,’ which is a play on the word butter in Dutch.
If the firm doesn’t implement the change within three months, it faces a penalty of €5,000 ($5,424) for each day that it violates the judgment.
“Upfield is allowed to compete with butter as fiercely as it wants with its new product,” and is allowed to promote it as “better than butter because it is better for the climate,” the court said. But the product name is “in conflict with European regulations,” according to the judgment.
Upfield, which makes margarine and spreads under brands including Becel, believes that consumers can understand the plant-based nature of its product, “which highlights the need for a modernized regulatory framework on naming conventions for food products,” a spokesperson said in an emailed reply to questions. The company is assessing its options after the court decision, the spokesperson said.
As plant-based foods gain popularity, they are being forced to become compliant with labels that accurately depict their ingredients. In 2017, the European Court of Justice ruled that plant-based foods can’t be sold in the bloc using terms such as milk, butter and cheese.
The Amsterdam-based company, which launched Blue Band Roombeter in 2023, was formerly a unit of consumer goods behemoth Unilever Plc. It was sold to KKR in 2017 for €6.8 billion. The private equity firm is considering an initial public offering or a minority stake sale of Upfield, after shelving a sale process, Bloomberg reported in April.
(Updates with company reaction in the fifth paragraph)
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