Consumer protection: Food sales via social media are rampant
Food businesses that advertise and sell their products via social media are unaware of food control - or don't want to be. This is what the Aargauer Amt für Verbraucherschutz AVS (Aargau Office for Consumer Protection) found out in a control campaign. The providers operate in the gray area.
Of 160 farms audited, 139, or 87 percent, were not registered, according to the 2021 AVS annual report released Wednesday. Only 21 businesses were registered with the canton. It is often difficult or impossible to find the persons behind the profiles or advertisements, the AVS states.
It contacted 139 farms during its campaign. This resulted in 46 farm registrations. Ten of the farms did not respond even after being contacted several times, according to AVS.
These companies or persons were reported to the Consumer Policy Reporting of Facebook or Instagram via the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO). After several months of waiting, the pages were deleted from Facebook. Accordingly, the remaining establishments decided to cease their activity and remove the advertisements.
Cakes, pastries and catering on offer
Most of the advertisements are for cakes and baked goods, but national specialties such as börek, Indian food, as well as nutritional supplements and catering are also offered.
The price is almost always set at zero francs or one franc, additional information is usually sparse. The description is usually kept very general. The correct name of the seller as well as an address can rarely be found, with a bit of luck the locality is correct, as it says in the annual report.
The greatest difficulty of the control campaign for the AVS was the anonymity of the advertisers. Facebook is the quickest and easiest way to get the information you need. On Instagram or Tutti.ch, it is almost impossible to find the person behind the profile or ad.
Cooperation with Facebook/Instagram is mandatory via the federal government and is a lengthy process. Registration with the cantonal authorities is a prerequisite for the Eats-homemade.ch app. All other providers do not check this. However, whether the advertisements contain the legally required information is not checked.
Ice cubes are a permanent problem
As every year, the Office for Consumer Protection reports on a wealth of inspections. The poor quality of ice cubes is a perennial problem. The microbiological quality of ice cubes continues to leave much to be desired. The AVS examined 17 ice cube or crushed ice samples from company-owned machines and two self-portioned bag ice samples. 58 percent of the ice cubes tested were rejected.
Deceptive claims in the catering and retail trade are also a recurring topic. Still 23 percent of the claims are false or deceptive, as the AVS found. The highest complaint rates were for Parmesan and feta, at well over 50 percent. Many use the slightly cheaper Grana Padano or another extra-hard cheese instead of the real Parmigiano Reggiano, the AVS found.
The Veterinary Service, which is also part of the AVS, imposed many animal keeping bans in the area of pets and wild animals. Due to gross violations in animal husbandry, the Office of Consumer Protection issued 25 animal holding bans in the reporting year. In comparison, this is again a significant increase of 78 percent over the previous year. (SDA)
