Legal threat forced price watchdog to water down food mark-up complaint

Retailers and the price watchdog have not seen eye-to-eye on the latest report on organic food margins. © Keystone / Christian Beutler

Supermarket chain Migros used legal threats to delay a price watchdog report on excessive profit-taking, according to correspondence obtained by the Swiss media.

Price watchdog Stefan Meierhans has been embroiled in a fight with Migros for months, which complained that his original report late last year was biased and inaccurate.

Meierhans eventually published an amended version of his report in January, calling for food retailers to charge less for organic foods. He also complained about the legal pressure he was facing.

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The price of food is particularly sensitive at the moment with inflation raising household bills.

The Swiss media has obtained correspondence that shows how supermarket chain Migros put pressure on the price watchdog to water down his report.

Migros lawyers demanded 153 changes to the report, leading Meierhans to declare: “They are practically demanding that the price watchdog adopts the Migros point of view.”

In the end, some compromise changes were made to the report so it could be published in a timely manner without a huge legal fight.

But the reports of several media platforms on Saturday suggests that the issue could drag on.