Supermarket giant Coles has been ordered to pay $2.5 million in penalties after lying to shoppers about the freshness of its bread. In June, It's ‘made today, sold today’ slogan, was deemed misleading by the Federal Court. It was slammed with a three-year ban to no longer promote its bread as baked on the day it is sold or made from fresh dough and has now received a hefty fine. 'This penalty sends a strong message to companies that they should not use broad phrases in promotions that are deliberately chosen to sell products to consumers but which are likely to mislead consumers,' Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chairman Rod Sims said. The Federal Court slammed Coles with a $2.5 million fine and banned them from advertising its par-baked bread from being baked fresh on the day it is sold for three years . The falsified fresh bread has generated a revenue of about $300 million for Coles . The falsely labelled bread has generated an income of around $300 million over three years before former premier Jeff Kennett found that the some of the bread that was advertised as fresh was actually made in Ireland the Sydney Morning Herald reported. In many instances, the breads were partially baked in factories overseas, frozen, and shipped to Australia months later to be sold as freshly baked loaves to consumers. After an investigation by the ACCC Coles was also ordered to display a Federal Court corrective notice in its stores and on its website informing shoppers that it had broken Australian consumer law by falsely advertising bread products as 'Baked Today, Sold Today' and 'Freshly Baked In-Store'. In court, Chief Justice Allsop said that it was clear Coles had the intention of improving its marketing through 'conduct that breached the Australian Consumer Law.' 'It is important that sellers in the market recognise that consumers are entitled to reliable, truthful and accurate information,' he said. After an investigation by ACCC Coles was also ordered to display a Federal Court corrective notice in stores .
Coles ordered to pay $2.5 million in penalties after lying to shoppers .
Their marketing slogan 'made today, sold today' deemed as misleading .
The products were par baked from overseas and shipped months later .
Coles also ordered to display a Federal Court corrective notice in stores .