Record fine for false organic chicken

Marie-Eve Dumont

Thursday, December 14, 2017 19:55

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Thursday, December 14, 2017 19:55

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The three owners of a farm chicken have been ordered to pay a record fine of $ 42,000 for having used the term “organic” without being certified.

The company’s Chicken, Saint-Apollinaire near Quebec city, was sold for a year and a half of the products claiming that they were organic then that this was no longer the case.

It is the largest penalty imposed on an enterprise in Québec to have used the term “organic” without certification. Each owner has been ordered to pay 14 000 $.

“Chicken Farmer has put an end to its organic certification on may 27, 2013, it is a business decision. The [owners] are therefore fully aware that the word “organic” may now be used in any way, ” said the judge Yannick Couture, of the Court of Québec.

The family farm Theriault was especially noted in the region of Quebec. She has provided in the past, the renowned restaurant of the Chateau Frontenac, but it has also sold its products in Montreal, Ottawa and in the small French island of Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon.

Bankruptcy

The inspector of the Conseil des appellations réservées et des termes valorisants (CARTV), which oversees the application of the law governing the organic certification, have repeatedly asked the owners to correct the shot before you get to court, we read in the transcript of the judgment.

One of the owners of the farm, Michel Thériault, denounces the ways of the body, which led him to place themselves under the protection of the bankruptcy and insolvency act, and to sell his company.

“We decided to put an end to the certification because it was too expensive, but I still had inventory, and it remained me of the organic grain. The inspectors never came to see us. They have not seen that we had hidden the logo “organic” with stickers on our products, it has made the patch “, let it go, Mr. Thériault.

Fourth fine

This law, which governs the bio is relatively young in Quebec. The majority of the cases settle before going before the Court. It is only the fourth fine imposed by the courts.

“We focus first and foremost on the information and the correction of non-conformities. In cases where this approach does not give the results up to our expectations, out of respect for the many businesses that comply with the specification bio and for consumers who demand to know and pay the right price for value-added products, we use [the legal action], ” says the president and ceo of the CARTC, and Pascale Tremblay.