"Flavored" foie gras
Foie gras has always been favored for its rich nutrition and delicious taste, and the price is not cheap. However, some merchants, out of the consideration of reducing costs and seeking benefits, use shoddy and fake other relatively cheap raw materials such as duck liver to sell foie gras, infringing on the rights and interests of consumers.
01 Brief introduction of the case
In June 2021, when the Putuo District Market Supervision Bureau carried out a special inspection of the catering units in the jurisdiction, it found that a catering unit had a "secret foie gras" dish in the store menu, which was cheaper, and then found a bag of "fragrant honey liver" that had been opened and used in the kitchen refrigerator of the store, and the foie gras ingredient was not found in the food ingredient list.
After investigation, the fragrant honey liver is the raw material for making the "secret foie gras" dish, which was purchased by the parties from an e-commerce company, and its main ingredients are duck liver, edible salt, monosodium glutamate, etc., so the "secret foie gras" eaten by customers is actually duck liver, and there is no foie gras ingredient.
02 Legal analysis
"Secret foie gras" From the name of the dish, the dish is undoubtedly foie gras, and consumers ordering is also aimed at the "foie gras" in it. However, merchants replace "foie gras" with "duck liver", replace expensive raw materials with cheap ingredients, and cover up false facts with bright names, which is very easy to deceive and mislead consumers.
The above-mentioned acts of the parties constitute misleading commercial publicity and violate the first paragraph of article 20 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of The Rights and Interests of Consumers: "Business operators shall provide consumers with information on the quality, performance, use, validity period and other information of goods or services, and shall not make false or misleading publicity" and the first paragraph of article 8 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China: "Business operators shall not provide information on the performance, function, quality, sales status, user evaluation, Have been honored, etc. to make false or misleading commercial publicity, deceive and mislead consumers" provisions.
In accordance with the first paragraph of Article 56 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, the Putuo District Market Supervision Bureau reads: "In any of the following circumstances, in addition to bearing corresponding civil liability, other relevant laws and regulations that provide for the punishment organs and punishment methods shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the laws and regulations; A fine of not less than one time but not more than ten times the illegal gains, and if there are no illegal gains, a fine of not more than 500,000 yuan shall be imposed; if the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification or revoke the business license: (6) False or misleading publicity on goods or services" and the first paragraph of article 20 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China: "Business operators violate the provisions of Article 8 of this Law to make false or misleading commercial publicity about their goods, Or, by organizing false transactions or other means to help other business operators to carry out false or misleading commercial publicity, the supervision and inspection department shall order the illegal conduct to cease and impose a fine of between 200,000 and 1 million yuan; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of between 1 million and 2 million yuan may be revoked" stipulates that the parties concerned shall be ordered to make corrections and an administrative penalty of a fine shall be imposed.
After the incident, the person concerned has stopped selling the dish and removed it from the menu.
03 Tips
TIPS
Consumers can distinguish between foie gras and duck liver in terms of appearance, taste, price, ingredients, etc. In appearance, the foie gras is significantly larger, a complete foie gras weighs more than 700 grams, and the duck liver weighs about 450-600 grams. Foie gras is ivory, pale golden or pale bluish yellow with a light pink hue, while duck liver is earthy yellow. On the palate, foie gras is delicate and dense, rich in oil and melts in the mouth, and the taste of duck liver is not as delicate and delicate as foie gras, and the more intense flavor has some earthy flavor. In terms of price, the price of foie gras is about 3 times that of duck liver.
In daily consumption, consumers may fully exercise their right to know in accordance with the provisions of the Consumer Protection Law, and require merchants to issue retained information that proves the main ingredients of the goods and the source of purchases for inspection. Remember to "verify first, then consume", and keep the consumption voucher information to facilitate the protection of rights.
At the same time, we vigorously advocate that all catering units implement the main responsibility, operate in good faith according to law, and jointly protect and safeguard the interests of consumers.
Contributed by: Putuo District Market Supervision Bureau