Strawberries under scrutiny: Nébih takes action against unfair sales

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 06. 10. 11:23

The National Food Chain Safety Authority (Nébih) conducted increased strawberry inspections nationwide in the second half of May. The authority’s goal was twofold: on the one hand, to support honest primary producers, and on the other hand, to protect consumers against illegal or misleading sales practices. During the two-week campaign, the authority inspected 30 vendors at farmers’ markets, market halls and production areas – based on the results, inspections will continue throughout the rest of the summer season – writes Agrárszektor.

Own product or purchased goods?

During the inspections, Nébih employees checked, among other things, whether the strawberries sold were actually produced by the company itself and whether the given primary producer was listed in the official register. The experts also examined the proportionality of the declared land area and the quantity of product offered, as this can also be revealing in terms of whether the seller actually produced the fruit himself.

The biggest problem was that in some market halls it was not clear what quality was being sold. There were suspicions that some sellers were actually selling purchased imported goods as their own – thereby not only misleading customers, but also creating an unfair competitive situation against law-abiding primary producers.

Proceedings and field inspections

The Nébih initiated official proceedings in five cases where there was a well-founded suspicion that the seller was not offering strawberries of his own production. In these cases, not only were the documents examined, but in each case an on-site inspection was also carried out in the production area to verify the actual production.

Overall, experience shows that sales at farmers’ markets are generally legal, while in larger market halls, the goods of domestic primary producers are increasingly being pushed into the background, and traders who sell foreign strawberries as Hungarian products are increasingly appearing.

How can the buyer protect themselves?

According to the legislation, the primary producer is obliged to clearly indicate at his point of sale that the product comes from his own primary production activity. In addition, the FELIR number and the Nébih identification number must be indicated. Based on these, it is easy to check in the Nébih primary producer search engine whether the given product is actually listed in the register.

If the buyer is suspicious of the origin of the goods, he can report it to the Nébih Green Number (06-80/263-244) or by e-mail to mgei@nebih.gov.hu and zoldszam@nebih.gov.hu.