Ensuring Compliance: Market Control Operation for Fruit and Vegetable Vendors

2023-06-30 12:52:00

The FPS Economy carried out a vast market control operation. In the line of sight: fruit and vegetable vendors. The objective was to check, in addition to the general sales rules, whether market gardeners complied with the labeling rules when selling fresh fruit and vegetables on public markets and in particular the correct indication of the country of origin of these products. “More and more people are consciously consuming local products, which is a good thing for our ecological footprint,” says Pierre-Yves Dermagne, Minister of the Economy. “The impact on our health is also taken into account: within the European Union, the use of harmful pesticides is subject to very thorough control. It is therefore important for consumers that traders comply with the obligation to correctly indicate the origin of food products. The controls of the Economic Inspection show that particular attention is necessary in this respect. More than a quarter of checks revealed a violation of this obligation.”

The price of fruit and vegetables continues to soar, Belgian producers under pressure: “Freezing prices is too dangerous for the sector”

It is indeed worrying to note that, of the 283 merchants checked during the survey, 202 were in breach of at least one of the legal obligations in this area, ie 71.4% of them. The Economic Inspectorate of the FPS Economy issued 208 warnings and drew up 52 reports noting the most serious offences.

Among these infringements, more than a third concerned breaches of the rules relating to the indication of the country of origin when selling fresh fruit and vegetables on public markets (38.8%).

196 offenses were also noted with regard to the indication of the unit price of goods (i.e. 25.6% of all offenses committed) and 157 offenses with regard to the general rules relating to the general indication of prices (20.5%). It is, however, a fundamental regulation, which has already existed for a very long time and which is sufficiently well known by market gardeners.

1688142198
#buy #fruits #vegetables #markets #sellers #violation