Ferrero fakes unfit for an embassy party

Published on Tuesday 23 December 2008 20:42

FRENCH customs officers have seized ten tonnes fake Ferrero Rochers, it emerged yesterday.

Authorities announced that nearly 33,000 boxes of gold-foil-wrapped bonbons were netted at the giant Rungis international market outside Paris last month. They arrived in France by refrigerated truck from Turkey and were seized in late November.

Lab tests and an examination by experts working for the Italian chocolate maker revealed that the seized sweeties were harmless but low-quality copies.

Sophie Hocquerelle, a spokeswoman for the French customs office, said legal proceedings are now under way between Ferrero and the chocolates' importer.

"It was the first time we had ever seized chocolates," she added.

The ten tonnes, or nearly 25,000lb, of coconut-filled dark chocolates and milk chocolate balls are worth an estimated 223,500.

Genuine Ferrero Rochers, made by Ferrero SpA, consist of a whole roasted hazelnut in a thin wafer shell that is filled with Nutella chocolate spread and hazelnut cream. The outside of the chocolate ball is covered in milk chocolate with chopped hazelnuts and walnuts.

The customs office said the fake Ferreros confirmed a trend seen in recent years, of counterfeiters moving on from luxury goods like leather handbags and expensive perfumes to more day-to-day consumer goods like food, medicine and car parts.

By last month, French customs agents had seized 5.4 million counterfeit items this year, up from 4.6m in all of 2007.

Although the bonbons could stuff a lot of stockings this holiday season, they will instead be under the lock and key of French agents, and are due to be destroyed soon.