ISLAMABAD - The CCP has issued show cause notice to a frozen foods manufacturing company, M/s Kitchen Stone Foods, for deceptive marketing practices.

The CCP issued notice to food manufacturing company for prima facie violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010 by running deceptive marketing campaign for its frozen food products, said a statement issued by CCP here on Wednesday. The CCP received formal complaints from M/s Seasons Foods (Pvt) Limited and M/s Quick Food Industries (Pvt) limited alleging that Kitchen Stone Foods was deceiving consumers by claiming that its products were "100 percent non-processed food".

The CCP conducted an enquiry into the matter, which concluded that the advertisement posted by Kitchen Stone Foods on its Facebook page drew direct misleading comparison by showing the complainants' packaging with articles citing risks and causes of cancer along with misleading narrations without substantiation.

According to the enquiry report, such deceptive marketing practices by Kitchen Stone Foods not only deceived consumers but were also capable of harming the business interest of the complainants and other competitors. On the recommendations of the enquiry report, CCP issued show cause notice to Kitchen Stone Foods and directed it to appear before the commission on August 31, 2017.

The CCP is mandated under the Competition Act to ensure free competition in all spheres of commercial and economic activity to enhance economic efficiency and to protect consumers from anti-competitive practices including deceptive marketing practices.