In France, producers of traditional shallots denounce fake shallots from abroad

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. “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 can 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 ...