Several farmers’ unions have singled out the Herta and Fleury Michon groups. They accuse them of misusing the labelling legislation on ham.
Herta and Fleury Michon are in the sight of the breeders. In recent weeks, the FDSEA Mayenne and FRSEA Pays-de-la-Loire criticise these two groups to “circumvent” legislation on labelling . A sticker with a photo of French breeders on ham packs of Spanish origin, no details on the origin of the meat … All these examples have led breeders to express their indignation.
@FleuryMichon pour le jambon vous dites que vous manquez de jambon 🇫🇷 dc vous vous approvisionnez en 🇪🇸, mais pour les allumettes de 🐷, les gésiers et le poulet, quelles bonnes raisons avez vous ?@JEUNESAGRI53 @fdsea53 @CaroTlr @LaCooperativeU @FRSEA_PDL pic.twitter.com/Vc6d4FceQg
— NOEL (@Vincenono) 13 August 2018
@LeclercBonPlan menteur, logo porc français alors que le (2) indique transformé en 🇫🇷 et non pas origine 🇫🇷 (1), @JEUNESAGRI53 @fdsea53 @Jehanne53 @philippe_jehan @TremeauJeremy @CaroTlr @FrancoisValy @UFCquechoisir @dgccrf pic.twitter.com/4BlKOYpSMz
— NOEL (@Vincenono) 13 August 2018
Industrialists defend themselves
Just before the summer, a meeting was held between the farmers and the Fleury Michon group. “We had a consultation with the repression of frauds which diligente an investigation, which one does not have the conclusions still”, affirmed to our confreres of France Bleu Philippe Jehan, breeder and president of the FDSEA of Mayenne and administrator of the FNSEA.
But the DGCCRF (Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control) has not yet confirmed this survey. “We can understand that it was misunderstood or misinterpreted by farmers who are on edge compared to commodity prices,” said AFP David Garbous, Innovation Strategy Director Fleury Michon Group. According to the group, the incriminated ham packs represented only 1% of the weekly production of the plant concerned, ie 6,900 sachets.
Asked by RTL , the Herta group also defends itself: “We indicate the origin of our meats on all our packs of hams, and our labeling complies with the regulations”. The group emphasized that it uses the French pork logo (VPF) on its references supplied only with French meat, and, for its other hams, the labeling ‘made with pig meat of EU origin ( France, Spain), from rigorously selected farms.
Vote of the law Food
These facts occur a few weeks before the examination in the National Assembly of the Food Law. A way to put pressure? Certainly. For Philippe Jehan, “the text, as it stands, is not enough”.
He wants to allow consumers “to identify the French product, not to say that it is better but to allow consumers to choose”.
