Eurosemillas warns of the fraud of selling Tang Tang mandarins of other varieties
Following the complaint filed with the Directorate General of Consumer Affairs of the Generalitat Valenciana by La Unió de Llauradors against Aldi and Carrefour for advertising and labeling two different protected tangerines under the same name (‘Tang Gold / Nadorcott’ and ‘Nadorcot / Tango’, respectively ), Eurosemillas has contacted both chains. The French multinational is correcting the error in its points of sale and already offers its audience both varieties of tangerines in a differentiated way. The company expects that, in the near future, the second brand in question will proceed to do the same, avoiding that the consumer mistakenly believes that Tang Gold is the same variety as Nadorcott.
The Spanish Administration, like that of the EU, has officially recognized that Tang Gold is a different variety, both for the absence of seeds in its fruit -although it has been exposed to pollination of others- and for not being a variety that contaminates seeds to the neighboring plantations. A fact that is well known by the Tango licensees farmers (registered in the EU as Tang Gold), who do not have the need to isolate their fruit trees, cover them or treat them with phytosanitaries to scare or kill the bees and avoid the effects of cross-pollination. Later, in addition, they verify that their prices are significantly higher than those of other mandarins that can not offer such guarantee of absence of seeds. This way, the legitimacy and motivation of the complaint presented by the mentioned Valencian association of producers is better understood.
Based on the technology of varietal certification through molecular markers implemented by Eurosemillas, the situations of cultivation and fraudulent supply that occur along the entire food chain are being identified
Use of markers.
The markers used by this Spanish company, endorsed by the Higher Center for Scientific Research (CSIC), are unequivocal because they make it possible to identify Tang Gold and distinguish it from any other variety. These tests, moreover, have full validity before the courts because the samples are taken by an international certifier that guarantees the chain of custody and because the results are provided by an independent and accredited laboratory.
Eurosemillas warns that the publicity and sale under the name Tang Gold of mandarins of other varieties as well as the promotion and sale under other varietal denominations of mandarins Tang Gold are fraudulent practices that “confuse the consumer, suppose a flagrant violation of the rights of obtaining -in this case, those of the University of California and those of the Eurosemillas itself- and cause an evident damage to the farmer licensee of the variety“.
Eurosemillas informs that for this season the number of operators (exporters) of Tang Gold / Tango has been doubled in its Control, Certification and Varietal Identification System. All of them are able to guarantee a supply without possible fraud
Legal responsibility
These fraudulent commercial practices are amply collected by national and community legislation. They can be considered, in fact, as acts of unfair competition for deception to the consumer, typified in the Law of Unfair Competition in its articles 5 and 20. They would infringe, if materialized in publicity actions, the General Law of Advertising, in its articles 3 and 18 They could even be subject to administrative sanctions in accordance with the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users. Irregularities in labeling would also imply a breach of Council Regulation (EC) 1234/2007 on the Fruit and Vegetable sectors. Moreover, such acts are also contemplated in article 14 (on trademark management) of Law 12/2013 on Measures to Improve the Functioning of the Food Chain. Amen, of course, of being able to suppose a violation of the regulating norm of the rights of vegetal obtaining (Art 17 of the Regulation (CE) nº 2100/94).
Source: Eurosemillas
