'Buy French' labelling may hide food scams

Campaigners Foodwatch say man­ufacturers and supermarkets are taking advantage of consumers’ willingness to ‘buy French’, even if it costs more, but warn that having a blue, white and red logo, a map of France or even the words ‘Made in France’ on the label are all but meaningless.

Chloé Stevenson of Food­watch France said: “The original ingredients might not even come from the EU, let alone France. Some products have merely been packed in France!

“The most shocking is Charles Christ cornichons (gherkins). The jar is emblazoned with a ‘tricolore’ and ‘Con­dit­ionné dans le Loir-et-Cher’ (packed in Loir-et-Cher) but if you look closely at the list of ingredients, you see that the cornichons are actually from India!”

The problem, she says, is it is impossible to know where foods come from.

“The law only requires the country of origin to be marked on meat and milk, so many ingredients’ origins are not marked at all. Others may be ‘origin UE/non UE’ to show the ingredients come from inside and outside the EU... but what are we supposed to guess from that? That the ingredients come from somewhere in the world!”

Knowing where foods come from is important she said, so shoppers could choose locally- produced foods, back local jobs and industries and avoid foods with a large carbon footprint (ie those from across the globe).

Calling it a “straightforward scam” by many brands and supermarkets, she said “marking foods with French maps, flags, colours and logos is unethical and misleading. People are being tricked into paying more for foods that don’t come from France at all!”

Coming on the heels of a report showing some supermarket promotions were more expensive than regular offers, she warned consumers not to take things at face value, and to read labels and small print.

In July, 66 people were arrested in Spain, Belgium, France, Italy and the UK over horsemeat that was to be sold as beef.