Dandong Strawberry Investigation ①丨 It is claimed that Dandong strawberries are actually shipped from Jiangsu, and the "package adjustment technique" has been investigated in many places
The "Dandong Strawberry" that sold 100,000 units was actually produced in Jiangsu, 1,500 kilometers away?
A few days ago, a video of Weibo's big V "Filter Crusher" revealed the strawberry "packaging technique" of some e-commerce fruit sellers such as Freda and Guoweisong.
The merchant claimed to be selling "Dandong strawberries", but in fact, Jiangsu strawberry distributors organized the supply of goods in the name of "separate warehouse delivery".
The cost of Jiangsu strawberries is only half of that of Dandong strawberries, but the price is the same as that of "genuine products", forming a huge spread.
The relevant departments of the Dandong strawberry main producing area and the Donggang municipal government under Dandong City have held a brand protection briefing, and will take legal measures to protect their rights against the illegal sales of masquerading as Dandong strawberries and Donggang strawberries.
On April 11, according to the Beijing News reporter's verification, the Donggang Market Supervision Bureau has packaged the evidence and sent it to the market supervision department where the e-commerce involved is located.
The Blue Sky Strawberry Purchase and Sales Center, which provides strawberry delivery services for the merchants involved, is currently under investigation by the local market supervision department, and has suspended its strawberry delivery business. The cooperation with Guoweisong and Freda has also been terminated.
A reporter from the Beijing News also recently visited and found that online, there are still merchants who have the problem of "Dandong strawberry" delivery from separate warehouses or multiple warehouses.
Jiangsu strawberries pretend to be Dandong strawberries
The beautiful, sweet and sour "Dandong 99 Strawberry" has become popular on the Internet in the past two years, and is known as "the Hermes of the strawberry world".
Every November to May is the main production season of Dandong strawberries. On the e-commerce platform, you can see many shops selling "authentic Dandong 99 strawberries".
Freda, Fruity Song is a fruit seller on the e-commerce platform.
Weibo V "Filter Crusher" released a video in mid-March this year, showing that the strawberries sold in Guoweisong's online store are nominally "Spot Dandong 99 Milk Strawberries"; except for 2 light-colored strawberries in Freda's online store, the origin is in Shandong In addition, the remaining 4 models are all named "Dandong 99 Strawberry".
Among them, Freda's "Dandong 99 Milk Big Strawberry" even rushed to the second place on the platform's strawberry best-selling list.
However, from the orders placed by Guoweisong and Freda, it was found that the logistics information of their "Dandong 99 strawberries" all showed that they were shipped from Jiangsu.
The two customer service personnel explained that the strawberries were first shipped from Dandong, Liaoning Province to sub-warehouses across the country, and then delivered to customers.
In addition, both stores presented the authorization letter from the Strawberry Growing Cooperative in Dandong.
According to the delivery information, the "Filter Crusher" personnel came to Gengji Town, Jiawang District, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, which is an important local strawberry distribution center.
The video shows that the Blue Sky Strawberry Purchase and Sales Center located here mainly serves e-commerce platforms and can provide strawberry delivery services.
The staff of Blue Sky Strawberry Purchasing and Marketing Center introduced in the video that Freda and Guoweisong are shipped from their company, and there will be tens of thousands of orders in December 2021 alone.
Locally, red-faced strawberries are rarely planted, but Lantian Shopping and Marketing Co., Ltd. can paste the noodles printed with "Dandong Strawberry" on the packaged Jiangsu strawberry package, and can even provide "proof" to help counterfeiting.
The so-called "certificate" refers to the authorization letter provided by the local strawberry grower in Dandong to the distributor.
However, according to the "Filter Crusher" verification, the relevant growers did provide authorization, but the authorization mode is that the merchants in Dandong origin directly distribute strawberries instead of transferring them to Jiangsu for secondary distribution.
Due to the lack of supervision, the authorization letter has become a "gap" for merchants to sell counterfeit goods.
The reason why foreign strawberries are used as Dandong strawberries is the temptation of large interest rate spreads.
According to the "Filter Crusher", the purchase price of Jiangsu strawberries with a size of 20 grams or more for Freda is about 16 yuan per kilogram, and the authentic "Dandong 99" with a size of 20 grams or more can also be subdivided. There are 3 specifications, and the purchase price ranges from 25-40 yuan/catties.
The Blue Sky Purchase and Sales Agency involved is under investigation
The phenomenon of Jiangsu strawberries counterfeiting Dandong strawberries has aroused social concern.
Today's headline creator "Dandong Xiaoyu" wrote, "Dandong strawberries have become more and more popular in recent years, with good taste but high prices. Sellers who use Jiangsu strawberries to pretend to be Dandong strawberries can save costs and reduce prices. The sale is also more competitive." He also told the Beijing News reporter, "For customers who buy fake Dandong strawberries for the first time, they will mistakenly think that Dandong strawberries have a bad taste and have a great reputation for Dandong strawberries. Influence."
"The method of distributing fake Dandong strawberries from separate warehouses is really bad." "Dandong 6th Brother", a local e-commerce operator of Dandong strawberries, initially thought that the merchants engaged in separate warehouse shipments wanted to use low prices to smash traffic, until many people said " Dandong strawberries are not delicious", he realized that fakes are affecting the reputation of Dandong strawberries.
In the process of fighting the price war with "fake products", some genuine merchants also "taken a detour". For example, if they use big fruit to pretend to be extra big fruit, etc., there are still two problems in the merchants.
On March 16, the main strawberry producing area of Dandong and Donggang City, a subsidiary of Dandong City, held a brand protection briefing. The Donggang Municipal Market Supervision Bureau, Donggang Agricultural and Rural Bureau, Liaoning Strawberry Science and Technology Research Institute, and Donggang Strawberry Association attended the meeting. .
The briefing will reiterate that the influence of the Donggang Strawberry brand has been increasing, and the huge profits have attracted some unscrupulous merchants to sell dog meat with shoddy products.
"We call on consumers to look for the 'Donggang Strawberry' landmark and the "Donggang City Agricultural Product Quality Certificate" with a QR code when buying Donggang strawberries online. Take measures to protect your rights, pursue it to the end, and never tolerate it.”
On March 17, the Donggang Strawberry Association issued the "Notice on the Sales of Counterfeit Dandong Strawberries and Donggang Strawberries on Online Platforms", saying that the Association would pursue the illegal acts of counterfeiting Donggang strawberries exposed in the video, and called on the members of the Association to cooperate with the public. In cooperation with sellers, it is necessary to sign a normative contract with clear usage time and sales data, and withdraw the certification letter provided to them after the termination of the contract, so as to prevent merchants from using the certification letter to conduct illegal activities.
At present, the geographical indication of "Donggang Strawberry" has been transferred to Donggang Strawberry Association.
In response to the incident of Jiangsu Strawberry posing as Dandong Strawberry, the staff of the Donggang Municipal Agriculture and Rural Bureau responded to the Beijing News reporter on April 11 that the Donggang Municipal Government had ordered the Municipal Agriculture and Rural Bureau, Market Supervision Bureau, Procuratorate and Public Security Bureau to intervene.
The Donggang Market Supervision Bureau has packaged the evidence collection and sent it to the market supervision department where the e-commerce involved is located.
On April 9, the staff of the Blue Sky Strawberry Purchase and Sales Center, who provided strawberry delivery services for Freda and Guoweisong in the video, responded to a reporter from the Beijing News, saying that the Xuzhou Market Supervision Bureau had been involved in the investigation, and the regulatory authorities would further enforce the law.
At present, Blue Sky Strawberry Purchasing and Sales Center has suspended the strawberry delivery business, and the cooperation with Guoweisong and Freda has also been terminated.
After experiencing the strawberry counterfeiting storm, a reporter from the Beijing News found that the Tmall flagship store of Guowei Song and Freda Tmall flagship store were still operating, but no strawberry-related products could be found in the store.
As of press time, reporters from the Beijing News have not been able to get in touch with these two companies.
There are still "Dandong Strawberry" multi-warehouse deliveries online
Although the involved e-commerce companies Freda and Guoweisong have removed strawberry products from the shelves, and the market supervision department has intervened in the investigation, a reporter from the Beijing News has randomly asked 18 "Dandong Strawberry" e-commerce sellers since March 22 and found that there are still Multi-warehouse delivery problem.
The e-commerce "Civet's Fresh Shop" claims to sell "freshly picked Dandong 99 strawberries". When the reporter asked if it was shipped from Dandong, its customer service said "multiple warehouse delivery".
On the "Fresh 99 Hongyan Jiujiu Milk Donggang Cream Strawberry" page sold by the e-commerce "Fruit Hui", you can see the description of "the origin is straight and sweet and big, buy a pound for two pounds", but the customer service said "strawberry" It is grown in our own plantation, as delicious as Dandong strawberries, and shipped from Anhui.”
There are also some merchants who give vague information on the place of origin.
For example, the e-commerce "Boyuan Food" claims that its "Dandong 99 strawberry" origin is in Dandong, Liaoning. When asked where the Dandong strawberries in the store are shipped from, its customer service says "mainly from Yantai, Shandong, and some local specialties go directly to the place of origin." , and later also called "Strawberry no longer".
The e-commerce "Xingluo Fresh Fruit Store" claims to sell "authentic Dandong 99 strawberries", and its customer service says "In order to ensure that you receive fresh products, our fresh products will be shipped from multiple warehouses across the country".
In order to verify the authenticity of the origin, some e-commerce sellers will post the authorization letter of the strawberry planting cooperative in Dandong area, and some sellers will live broadcast the strawberry greenhouse, picking and delivery process.
The seller "Mr. Jiawu's e-shop flagship store" even published the certificate of origin issued by the Donggang Strawberry Association and the "genuine" commitment letter from the supply base.
At present, a number of merchants have issued statements in the store, informing consumers that Dandong strawberries are fresh and fragile products that cannot withstand multi-warehouse forwarding, and will only be sent directly to consumers from the origin of Dandong.
"Dandong 6 Brothers" calculated an account for the Beijing News reporter. When the authentic Dandong strawberry in its store sells for more than 130 yuan (3 catties), some fruit e-commerce merchants can lower the price to 99 yuan.
However, from the perspective of cost, if 3 catties of Dandong strawberries are sent from Donggang to other places, the express fee is about 35 yuan, the packaging fee is about 12 yuan, and the cost of strawberry purchase alone is more than 100 yuan. Goods are not realistic from a cost perspective.
If Dandong strawberries are transported to other places by ordinary logistics, and then shipped by merchants in different places, "Dandong Six Brothers" thinks it is unrealistic, because ordinary logistics will cause serious damage to the fruit, and the quality and preservation period of strawberries will be affected.
In addition to simple identification from the place of delivery, Jiang Zhaotong, deputy director of the Liaoning Strawberry Science and Technology Research Institute, suggested that consumers should "see the second and smell the third" when buying Dandong strawberries.
At first glance, Dandong Donggang strawberry has a brighter appearance, good gloss, large fruit size and high uniformity; secondly, the smell of Dandong strawberry is relatively strong, "you can smell it at a distance of half a meter"; the third-grade taste, Dandong strawberry contains The sugar content can generally reach about 12%, the sweetness is high but slightly sour, and the pulp is delicate and fragrant.
Fake Dandong strawberries are rarely seen offline
What about offline sales?
The Beijing News reporter visited Beijing Xinfadi Market and Yonghui Supermarket, New World Supermarket, Carrefour and other supermarkets since late March, and the phenomenon of strawberry fraud in Dandong rarely happened.
Near noon on March 22, several merchants in the fruit boutique area of Xinfadi Market in Beijing said that they were selling "Dandong strawberries", and some merchants directly typed "Dandong strawberry base direct sales".
These "Dandong strawberries" are generally neatly placed in a white foam box, with a green wrapping paper under each strawberry, and a layer of plastic wrap on top of the strawberries.
The bigger the strawberry is, the fewer rows are placed.
A businessman in Beijing Xinfadi Market displayed a slogan "Dandong Strawberry Base Direct Sales".
Photography / Guo Tie
A strawberry wholesaler said that the strawberries it sold were shipped from the Dandong base to Xinfadi, Beijing on the same day. The wholesale price was the highest when it arrived in the early morning. By noon, the remaining stock was left, and the price had also dropped. Sold out on the day.
"Now that strawberries are on the market in large quantities, the price is not so expensive. Before the Spring Festival, the wholesale price of strawberries in Dandong can reach 48 yuan per catty."
Another strawberry merchant said that its Dandong strawberries are directly supplied to large supermarkets in Beijing, with a wholesale price of 12 yuan/catties for small fruits and 15-18 yuan/catties for large fruits.
Referring to the incident of counterfeit Dandong strawberries exposed on the Internet, the merchant said that its strawberries are produced in Dandong Donggang. "There are very few counterfeit Dandong strawberries in the market recently, but Hongyan strawberries and Dandong strawberries in other producing areas are difficult to identify in appearance."
Authentic Dandong strawberries sold by merchants in Xinfadi Market, Beijing.
Photography / Guo Tie
In order to verify the authenticity of these "Dandong strawberries", a reporter from the Beijing News sent the strawberry pictures taken to the local strawberry merchants in Yidandong, and the answer was "authentic".
"Now the price of small and medium-sized strawberries in Dandong is about 6 yuan per kilogram, and the price of large fruit is 8-9 yuan per kilogram. After a large number of listings, the price is cheap, and it is not cost-effective to counterfeit." The merchant said.
From March 22 to April 7, a reporter from the Beijing News saw at Beijing New World Supermarket, Carrefour Supermarket, Yonghui Supermarket, Guoduomei and other terminals that the price of "Dandong strawberries" per catty was generally 15 yuan to 20 yuan. , in a Yonghui supermarket in Fangshan District, the price of a box of Dandong Hongyan strawberries is 16.8 yuan, the price of Shandong Zhangji strawberries placed side by side is 23.8 yuan / box, and the price of Shandong Danxue strawberries is 49.8 yuan / box. More than Dandong strawberries.
A supermarket employee said frankly that the price of Dandong strawberries is currently the same as that of Beijing's local Xiaotangshan strawberries. "Many consumers love to eat local strawberries, so there is no need to counterfeit Dandong strawberries."
Beijing News reporter Guo Tie Liu Huan