Sandrine Chaplain, deputy director of the Departmental Directorate of Employment, Labor, Solidarity and Population Protection (DDETSPP), accompanied by Isabelle Rimek, deputy head of department at the departmental directorate for competition, consumption and repression frauds arrive at the entrance to the Intermarché Niort. Maxime Delahay, the director of a large store which has 80 employees, welcomes them with a smile. It is not the sole fact of having been warned in advance of this control operation for the sole purposes of media coverage which explains this lack of apprehension. “We have been checked twice in two years and that is quite normal, says the distributor. Each time it went well. Our teams are regularly trained on this issue. They are very concerned. We are all consumers. »
It is difficult, if not impossible, for consumers to detect fraud regarding the origin of meat and fruits and vegetables. The controllers are there to ensure compliance with these legal provisions.
The good faith of the offender is often not in doubt
In the butchery section, the origin of the meat is scrupulously controlled.
© (Photo NR, LL)
For Isabelle Rimek, vigilance can rhyme with kindness. “ Cases of proven fraud exist but are relatively rare, explains the trained agri-food engineer. In twenty years of service in Deux-Sèvres, I have not had to deal much with deceptive commercial practices. The majority of violations are due to negligence. » Given the rigors and complexity of evolving regulations, we can admit that the labels of a store with 20,000 fresh product references are not always on the right foot. Moreover, some anomalies do not escape the discerning eye of the controller in the fruit and vegetable section. Here the label of the plantain, which is only eaten cooked, faces the aisle of yellow bananas which are eaten raw. “This can mislead the consumer. » There, it is the green kiwi which is incorrectly labeled: there is no mention of the origin of the fruit.
“In the interest of the producer and the consumer”
In theory, the merchant can be notified, for this negligence, of a fine of 5e class with a fine of up to €1,500 per mislabeled product. But we never get there straight away. The good faith of the offender is usually not in doubt. “Sanctions are gradual and it all starts with a verbal warning. Then, if necessary, we move on to a written injunction before drawing up the reports which are sent to the prosecutor. Our recommendations are, in the vast majority of cases, taken into account. »
The controls are intended to be exhaustive. “It goes from the mini-market to the hypermarket, from the reseller in the markets to the producers’ store, explains Isabelle Rimek, head of a team of six people in the department. We examine the different display and traceability elements. »
“In Deux-Sèvres, we have never observed real fraud involving the mass francization of products”
In a tense context of latent agricultural crisis, the objective of the State is to protect “French origin”. “In Deux-Sèvres, we have never observed real fraud in the mass francization of products, says Sandrine Chaplain. We mainly notice anomalies due to negligence, lack of time or personnel. This goes in all directions: products of French origin labeled as Italian origin or the opposite, even Italian products labeled as being of Spanish origin. »
However, the famous fear of the police certainly makes it possible to contain fraud. “The objective is to verify that the information given to the consumer is fair and complies with all regulatory requirements, concludes Sandrine Chaplain. It is in the interest of the producer but also the consumer. »
in numbers
> For the first two months of the year, nearly 2,000 checks on the French origin of food products were carried out on the national territory. 683 establishments were identified as abnormal, giving rise to 413 warnings, 130 injunctions and nearly 150 reports.
> In Deux-Sèvres: 34 checks concerning the origin of products were carried out in 2023 in large and medium-sized supermarkets, in markets, in restaurants but also at wholesalers.
> For fruits and vegetables, controls in the department resulted in the issuance of 15 warnings, 2 injunctions and 3 reports.
> Concerning the meat sector, the controls resulted in the establishment of 6 warnings, particularly in catering, and 2 injunctions.
> In 2024, around sixty inspections must be carried out in Deux-Sèvres, all sectors combined. The first 21 of the year resulted in 6 warnings.
