Nébih conducted strawberry inspections to protect legal primary producer sales

During the special strawberry inspection held by Nébih in the second half of May, the experts inspected approximately 30 strawberry vendors. The inspections were carried out partly based on reports received by the Nébih Green Number, and partly at the market vendors. The inspectors checked, among other things, whether the product to be sold was included in the primary producer register and whether it was produced by the primary producer on his own farm. They also checked whether the sale was carried out by a person authorized to do so and whether the location provided the required information and data to the buyers. Another important inspection aspect was whether the quantity of the product offered for sale was proportional to the quantity that could be produced on the land indicated in the register.

The results show a mixed picture. The authority found everything in order at several locations. However, in some markets it was not clear what quality the sale was, i.e. whether purchased goods or self-produced goods were being sold, thereby misleading the buyers. In general, it can be said that sales are legal at farmers’ markets, and producers offer their own products. However, domestic primary producer products are starting to be pushed out of the larger market halls, and traders are selling purchased strawberries.

During the inspection series, proceedings were initiated in 5 cases because there was a suspicion that the seller was not offering products of their own production. In these cases, the authority – in addition to examining the documents – always went to the place of production to inspect them.

According to the experience of the campaign, although the majority of primary producers do their work honestly, there are still those who try to circumvent the rules, abusing the trust in primary producers’ products. Nébih will continue to strictly monitor the markets and investigate public interest reports in the future, in order to reveal irregularities and strengthen the work of honest producers.