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A company grows cultivated mushrooms in the Netherlands. Before harvesting, the mushrooms and their substrate are taken to neighbouring Germany, where they are freshly harvested, packaged and sold. Germany" was printed on the packaging as the country of origin. Is that correct?
In September 2019, the European Court of Justice actually had this exciting decision on the table. The long-standing legal dispute between the competition headquarters and the Dutch company has now been decided in favour of the company.
In the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is no consumer deception, because the country in which the agricultural product was harvested is decisive for the indication of origin!
The company was therefore even legally obliged to declare Germany as the country of origin. Of course, one should also have added the additional indication that the mushrooms were cultivated in the Netherlands. That would at least have avoided the dispute that had lasted up to the last instance.
Incidentally, the geographical origin could not have been determined analytically in this case.
Author: Frank Mörsberger
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