Consumer affairs agency demands Carrefour, Leclerc, Aldi and Lidl cease “deceptive” marketing of fresh fruit and veg
Four of France’s leading supermarket chains have been ordered to stop what the country’s consumer watchdog has described as a range of “deceptive business practices” in the way they sell fresh fruit and vegetables.
Following a series of investigations carried out in 2024 and 2025, the French Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said it had found Carrefour, Aldi, Lidl, and Galec – the buying arm of Leclerc – liable for various breaches of commercial law.
These include:
• The alleged use of text smaller than the permitted size to communicate prices.
• Practices which allegedly had the potential to confuse shoppers on country of origin.
• The indication of promotional prices that allegedly did not correspond to the real price paid by shoppers.
The agency’s investigation into Carrefour, which covered various stores throughout France between June 2024 and June 2025, highlighted what it described as “recurring misleading commercial practices as well as breaches of the rules governing the advertising of fruits and vegetables”.
“DGCCRF agents found that, in its print and online catalogues, Carrefour was deliberately creating confusion regarding the origin of the fruits and vegetables actually available in stores,” it stated. “The methods used to indicate origin did not meet the requirement of providing clear and honest information, and therefore contributed to a lack of clarity for the consumer.”
Galec, meanwhile, has been ordered to cease “the misleading commercial practice of communicating information on the origin of fruits and vegetables in its publications and promotional catalogues in an unintelligible, imprecise, ambiguous manner and using barely legible characters”.
The agents found that promotional catalogues issued by the group did not indicate the precise origin of fruits and vegetables.
“The origin of fruits and vegetables is essential information for consumers, as it can influence their purchasing decisions,” it noted.
‘Deliberately misleading’
Similarly, Aldi’s procurement division SCS Aldi Centrale d’Achat was accused of “deliberately misleading” shoppers in its brochures by obscuring countries of origin and instead referring shoppers to footnotes written in small text.
“Fruits and vegetables of French origin were not exempt from this deceptive business practice,” it said.
Lidl faces a similar charge. Following an investigation carried out during 2024, investigators found that, in its printed and online brochures, as well as in a radio advertisement, the company was “deliberately creating confusion” about the origin of the fruits and vegetables available in its stores.
In the radio advertisement, it is alleged to have omitted precise details of the products’ origins.
“The consumer’s consent is therefore impaired and altered by this practice because they cannot make an informed choice in making their purchase,” DGCCRF said.
Each of the retailers has been given six months to comply with the regulations.
