Nestlé is standing firm in its ongoing legal battle with Mars over the selling of ice cream in Italy.
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The Swiss food giant, alongside consumer goods group Unilever, stands accused of limiting Mars’ ability to sell ice cream in Italy.
Mars claims that Nestlé and Unilever are breaking anti-trust laws by banning the US company from stocking products in their sponsored refrigerators.
Earlier this week, Mars received a boost when Italy’s highest court allowed it to continue with a lawsuit on the matter against the two companies. The court gave Mars a fresh opportunity to appeal previous court decisions that supported Nestlé and Unilever.
However, Nestlé told just-food today (26 July) that its investment in the Italian market gave it the right to decide which products should be stocked in its refrigerators.
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By GlobalData“On principle, the company believes that as it has built the business through buying deep freeze cabinets, we should be able to control what goes in them,” a Nestlé spokesman in Switzerland said. “It’s very hard to argue that a newcomer should have access.”
The Nestlé spokesman said the spat would have no direct impact on the company. Nestlé’s share of the Italian ice cream market is under 30%, he said.
Officials at Unilever and Mars could not be reached for comment as just-food went to press.
