Cora, Système U, Leclerc, Carrefour, Lidl, Casino... In total, 13 groups of mass distribution as well as four producers and even the departmental directorate for the protection of populations (DDPP) were on the bench of the civil parties. This Tuesday, the company Lou Vegetables, whose mushroom farms are located in particular in Poilley (Ille-et-Vilaine), was sentenced by the criminal court of Rennes for deception and complicity in deception.
She was fined three euros for an amount of 744,000 euros, as reported by our colleagues from Ouest-France. She was found guilty of selling goods, mushrooms in this case, as originating France when they came from Poland. The family business has appealed the decision, according to Actu.
A deception discovered after a control of the repression of fraud, on December 14, 2020, in the premises of the company in Ille-et-Vilaine. The investigators then observed, in trucks from Poland, trays of mushrooms under plastic film, and labeled as being produced in France. Acts committed between March 1, 2019 and December 14, 2020.
Denounced by the National Federation of Mushroom Growers
Still according to Actu, which reports the hearing of April 3, the repression of fraud had discovered, on the Breton site, "mushrooms in bulk in crates stamped Poland on the packaging line that ended up being labeled France". The entrepreneur had then evoked a strong demand in the run-up to the holidays and had defended himself from a "mistake".
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For the prosecutor's office, which had demanded a fine of 1.5 million euros, "the company was responding to increasingly important orders, from increasingly reputable brands", without having sufficient "production tools" to meet them. The avocados of Lou légumes were surprised, for their part, that the mushrooms had not been analyzed to scientifically prove their origin.
The Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention had been alerted by the National Federation of French Mushroom Producers. The latter found that the company, despite its three other sites in Ternay (Loir-et-Cher), Landivy (Mayenne) and Chaspuzac (Haute-Loire), sold much more than the 2.4 tons it was supposed to be able to produce.
