Leclerc, Carrefour, Lidl, Casino… With the label “French Origin”, the mushrooms arrived from Poland.

Cora, Système U, Leclerc, Carrefour, Lidl, Casino… In total, 13 retail groups, as well as four manufacturers and even the departmental public protection department (DDPP), were in the bench of civil plaintiffs. On Tuesday, Lou Légumes, whose mushroom farms are located in Poilley (Ille-et-Vilaine) among others, was convicted by the Rennes criminal court of deception and complicity in deception.

She receives three fines worth 744,000 euros, as reported by our colleagues from Ouest-France. She was found guilty of selling goods, in this case mushrooms, as being of French origin when they came from Poland. The family business has appealed the decision, Actu said.

Fraud discovered after a fraud prevention check on December 14, 2020 at the company’s premises in Ile-et-Villaine. Investigators then found trays of mushrooms wrapped in plastic wrap and labeled as made in France in trucks from Poland. Acts committed between March 1, 2019 and December 14, 2020.

Prohibited by the national federation of mushroom growers

However, according to the Act, which concerns the April 3 hearings, the Fraud Suppression Service found on the Breton site “massive mushrooms in boxes with the Polish stamp on the packaging line, which was eventually labeled as France.” The entrepreneur then mentioned the high demand due to the upcoming holidays and defended himself against a “mistake”.

For the prosecution, which asked for a €1.5 million fine, “the company was responding to ever larger orders from increasingly established brands” without having “enough production tools to respond to them.” Lu’s lawyers were surprised that the mushrooms were not analyzed to scientifically prove their origin.

The Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Protection and Fraud Prevention has been alerted by the National Federation of French Mushroom Producers. The latter discovered that the company, despite its three other establishments in Terne (Loire-et-Cher), Landivy (Mayenne) and Chapusac (Haut-Loire), sold much more than it was supposed, 2.4 tons. .