Video. Pepper: how to avoid counterfeits?

"To carry out a fraud, you must already have black pepper," explains spice specialist Samir Ouriaghli, pouring a few grams of black berries into a mill.

"It costs 7 euros per kilo," specifies the creator of the Ankhor company (spices harvested or picked in France).

And we are going to mix it with bulking substances.

These are materials that will add weight to the pepper and cost much less.

"And our expert added starch at 50 cents per kilo, salt at 25 cents per kilo, olive pomace (a waste produced by pressing olive oil and reduced to powder) in the mill. ) at less than 10 cents per kilo and sand at 10 cents per kilo.

Samir Ouriaghli presses the "on" button: the blade of the mill swivels under its plastic cover.

A few seconds later, our interlocutor seems satisfied: “It looks good.

It looks like ground pepper.

He tastes a pinch of it.

“In terms of taste, I don't really see the difference.

“In terms of cost price, however, there is one: the counterfeit he has just made costs 20% less in raw material than an authentic pepper.

Knowing that the products are then sold at retail by applying a coefficient of 6 to 10, that puts a lot of money in the pockets of manufacturers, illegal or not.

Distrust when there is too much or not enough starch

Samir Ouarighli's little experiment is based directly on a 2018 Fraud Repression report. We discover, on the one hand, that 59% of the peppers analyzed present anomalies and, on the other hand, that the substances of load used to weigh down the pepper are starches, salt, mineral matter such as sand or olive pomace.

The following year, the association and magazine 60 million consumers analyzed 12 peppers sold in stores, particularly targeting the starch rate.

“Between 35 and 40% of the product can be starch because it is contained in the peppercorn, explains Patricia Chairopoulos, who conducted this survey.

When there is too much or not enough, it shows something abnormal.

"

The ground black peppers of the Ducros and Leader Price brands, for example, turn out to be impeccable.

“That of the Saint Lucia brand, on the other hand, is the bad student,” continues the journalist.

He comes to the end of our ranking.

It is one of those few peppers in which the starch content is abnormally low.

At this point, it can be suspected that the manufacturer added a substance lower in starch than pepper to make it heavier.

"Alas, we've been trying for nine months to reach out to the inter-professional organization representing the spices industry, Fedalim, to get an explanation: without success.

And in terms of taste?

A chef was asked to blind taste five peppers.

“A good pepper will have a bit of spice in the attack,” explains Alcidia Vulbeau, head of the Bonne Aventure restaurant in Saint-Ouen.

And then we will have a beautiful aromatic palette that will develop with a little fruit, a little acidity ... "When she tastes, blindfolded, the first ground pepper presented in front of her, she makes a face:" There is has something a bit acrid.

"On the second:" I don't feel the fruity side but I have the spiciness.

"To the third:" There, for me, it has just been ground.

It's better.

The fourth: "I don't feel anything.

" And the last ?

She hesitates for two seconds then says: "It's funny, there is a little scent of coriander, it's a little tangy."

I love that.

She does not yet know that she has just tasted the counterfeit pepper made a few hours earlier with Samir Ouriaghli.

Blindly, the false pepper comes first

In the standings, it is this false pepper that will arrive in first position!

The boss is stunned.

"It's true that it crunched under my teeth and I smelled salt," she comments.

But I didn't tell myself I was getting ripped off.

"

And this is where the shoe pinches: the difference is very difficult to perceive.

Admittedly, this counterfeit pepper was still freshly ground in the morning and therefore arguably more aromatic than the three samples already powdered - but it is nonetheless fraudulent.

It is therefore quite possible to deceive the most informed palates.

In the rest of the classification, we find the peppercorns of the Auchan brand (4.17 euros for 100 g), then the ground black peppers of Leader Price (2 euros for 100 g), Saint Lucia (4.63 euros for 100 g) and finally Ducros (9 euros for 100 g).

The latter, the most expensive of the five, was however in first position of the test bench of 60 million consumers in 2019.

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“The problem with factory-ground peppers,” explains Alcidia Vulbeau, “is that it gets stale. And, suddenly, it's true that this one… I really didn't feel anything at the end. "Result, if you want to be sure that you don't get ripped off and buy a spice that tastes good, and not necessarily more expensive, the best solution is to opt for the peppercorns and grind it yourself. .