Supermarket chain has to remove Dubai chocolate from its shelves

The German discounter Aldi South has to take his Dubai chocolate off the shelf. The Cologne regional court has issued an interim injunction against the supermarket chain because the chocolate “Alyan Dubai Handmade Chocolate” is produced in Turkey and not in Dubai. This is misleading consumers. He had complained loudly Spiegel a chocolate importer that sells Fex brand chocolate made in Dubai in Germany.

The regional court did not accept Aldi’s argument that Dubai chocolate is a generic name and therefore has nothing to do with its origin.

Also available from Hofer

Aldi Süd, but also the Austrian Aldi branch Hoferhave been selling the product “Alyan Dubai Handmade Chocolate” since mid-December 2024. In Austria, the 100 gram chocolate bar cost 5.49 euros. The German trading group ignored a warning from the Cologne court on December 12th. That’s why the interim injunction was issued.

According to the Hofer website, the chocolate is currently not available. It is unclear whether the court case in Germany also had an impact on sales in Austria. A KURIER inquiry about this is ongoing with Hofer.

The Dubai chocolate hype

The supermarket chains were late to catch on to the chocolate hype that spilled over from social media (Tikotok, Instagram) into the real world. Of course, the chocolate became popular not because of its origin, but because of the ingredients, especially the pistachios. The dark or white chocolate is always filled with pistachio cream and baked Turkish dough threads (knafeh).

Consumer advice center warns against cheap imported goods

Before Christmas, the Baden Württemberg consumer advice center warned against imported cheap chocolate. Accordingly, five samples from different batches of imported goods were examined. This was the same manufacturer from the United Arab Emirates and three samples from different distributors from Turkey. The imported goods contained, among other things, harmful ingredients.