Date:26/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/26/stories/2008122656981800.htm

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Fake Ferrero Rocher seized

A bouquet of Ferrero Rocher

PARIS: The world’s ambassadors have been saved from social embarrassment after 10 tonnes of fake Ferrero Rocher chocolates were seized here before they could be sold on the party circuit.

The pre-Christmas scam worth €220,000 brought a new meaning to the classic ad in which a butler produces a pyramid of the gold-wrapped chocolates on a silver platter at the ambassador’s residence to gasps of: “Monsieur, with these Rocher, you’re really spoiling us.”

The hoard of 33,000 boxes of fake chocolates is believed to be the biggest seizure of a counterfeit of everyday foodstuff discovered in France. Ferrero, which has promoted its Rocher line of round, hazelnut chocolates as classy and “a sign of good taste,” is said to be suing the importer.

The chocolates were seized at Rungis, France’s most famous wholesale market outside Paris.

Details of the counterfeit chocolate mountain were announced on Wednesday but the seizure was made at the end of November, when shops were preparing for the annual Christmas rush on Ferrero Rocher. The fakes arrived in France in a refrigerated truck from Turkey. The load contained various lines of fake Ferrero chocolates. Each was wrapped to look like an authentic Ferrero but the individual wrappers did not bear the sticker with the company’s logo.

After laboratory checks the fakes were not found to be dangerous, but they were of poor quality.

Ferrero Rocher continues to be popular at Christmas in Europe. In Britain they gained cult status and inspired a raft of comedy sketches after the dubbed ambassador ads and follow-ups.

Jerome Fournel, head of French customs, told AFP the haul was the biggest seizure of counterfeit ordinary food products France had seen.

The customs office said the fake Ferreros confirmed a trend seen in recent years of counterfeiters moving on from luxury goods such as perfume to more day-to-day consumer goods such as soap, food and medicine.

In Italy, charities for poor and homeless people were given caviar that was seized in a raid on contraband beluga. But in Paris, the fake Ferreros will be destroyed. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008