Sandrine Prioul / Photo credits: MARTIN BERTRAND / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 9:28 a.m., February 7, 2024
The anger of farmers continues in Brittany but for other reasons. Shallot producers denounce unfair competition from the north and east of Europe. A little-known competition, that of shallots crossed with onions, sold two to four times cheaper.
False shallots make Finistère producers cry. The Bretons who produce 90% of traditional shallots are victims of unfair competition from counterfeiters from northern and eastern Europe who are flooding the market with shallots from genetically modified seedlings, crossed with onions and sold two to four times cheaper.
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“The consumer may think he is buying shallots when he is buying onions”
In his Finistère warehouse, in the middle of crates of traditional shallots, producer Adrien and his colleague Bernard do not take off. It is impossible for the consumer to differentiate real traditional shallots from those that have been crossed with onions. "At the top of the traditional shallot, we see several compartments in the shallot whereas in the seed shallot, we clearly see that there is only one germ. This is the distinction. The consumer can think of buying shallots when he is buying onions", says Adrien.
With his colleague Bernard, they asked to obtain a protected geographical indication (PGI). “We are simply asking not to sell onions in the name of shallots. The two battles must be fought head-on, that is to say obtaining a PGI with a Red Label but we will not be any further ahead if there are no more shallots produced", he says and to call the competition authorities as witnesses to enforce the rules. This, he says, is about safeguarding a sector and a plant variety.