Fake Cherries
Food fraud in fresh fruit is a thing
Fruit gets counterfeited. Faked. Counterfeit fruit. Fake fresh fruit? (Really?)
It can be hard to believe, for those of us who live in places where high quality, reasonably-priced fruit is the norm, but fruit counterfeiting is a thing. It occurs more commonly in countries where premium imported fruit is an expensive status symbol. But it can happen anywhere.
Fruit counterfeiting is perpetrated by criminals who mimic the packaging of premium brands of fruit, and fill the packs with fruit from sources not associated with the brand.
More than 1.1 million pieces of fruit packed with fraudulent labels of brands like Dole, Zespri and Sunkist were discovered in just a single city in China in 2018.
An Australian cherry producer was one company that experienced losses from counterfeiting. Their packs were being imitated by food fraud perpetrators. Counterfeiting impacts sales revenue, of course. But it can also cause serious brand damage, when consumers receive sub-standard fruit instead of genuine, top-quality product.
Within just one week of their product arriving in China for a new season, fraudsters were copying the new season’s anti-counterfeit features, including, intricate, laser-cut carton stickers, custom-printed carton liners and…
