An agreement at the expense of the French and their health? The Competition Authority announced on Thursday that it had sanctioned 19.5 million euros against 15 agri-food players, including Bonduelle, Andros and Unilever, for agreeing between 2010 and 2015 not to communicate ” on the presence or absence of bisphenol A” in their cans and cans.
Banned in France since 2015 in food containers, bisphenol A is considered by the National Food Safety Agency (ANSES) as an endocrine disruptor and is suspected of being linked to multiple disorders such as infertility. or diseases like breast cancer.
Particularly in cans and cans
The authority indicates in its press release that it has sanctioned “three professional canner organizations, FIAC, ADEPALE and ANIA, as well as the can manufacturers’ union, SNFBM, for having implemented a collective strategy aimed at preventing manufacturers in the sector to compete on the question of the presence or absence of bisphenol A in food containers (cans, cans, etc.).”
According to the authority, the actors involved wanted, in their own words, “to avoid causing consumer mistrust” and agreed “not to use the absence of Bisphenol A as a commercial argument which could have (… ) “entirely destabilize the value chain””.
A fine of 20 million euros
The objective of this agreement was to “prevent manufacturers from communicating about the absence of BPA in their food containers” and “to encourage manufacturers to refuse to deliver boxes without Bisphenol A before its ban in France, then to “stop marketing canned foods with Bisphenol A after this date,” the press release continues.
“Eleven companies, prosecuted as members of these organizations, are also sanctioned, the cumulative amount of sanctions reaching nearly 20 million euros,” it is specified. These are the “canners” Andros, Bonduelle, Charles et Alice, Cofigeo, Conserves France, D’Aucy, General Mills, and Unilever, as well as the “can suppliers” Ardagh, Crown and Massilly.
“The four professional organizations concerned as well as the eleven member companies are sanctioned for a total amount of 19,553,400 euros,” summarizes the Competition Authority. “These practices, together, constitute a single complex and continuous offense (IUCC) implemented from October 6, 2010 to July 21, 2015, i.e. over more than four years,” it is specified.