It is a flagship product in France, but which gives rise to numerous abuses. The vanilla market has indeed been in crisis for several years, due to climatic and socio-economic difficulties encountered by Madagascar, the main producer country. A situation which has led to a drop in the quality of the pods coupled with a sharp increase in their price. Faced with this situation, the General Directorate for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) decided to study the possible abuses in the sector.
It thus carried out a survey, in 2019, in order to control the composition and labeling of vanilla products (pods, extracts, flavors), but also of flavored products. An investigation of which it published the results Tuesday, January 4, and the least that we can say is that the finding is not encouraging. The agents of the DGCCRF targeted all the actors of the sector, producers of pods, extracts, natural flavors, aromas with vanilla flavor and pure natural vanillin, but also importers, distributors, traders of retail and agrifood companies.
Aromas mixed with water
In total, they checked product compliance, traceability and invoicing at 177 establishments, particularly overseas. First problem: many sellers in the markets suggest that vanilla pods are locally sourced, although this is not always the case. Of the 22 pods sampled, one in four did not comply with the regulations, some actually consisting of vanilla flavor extraction waste, while the white powder sold and labeled “vanilla” was not actually just flavored sugar.
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Regarding the samples of vanilla extract checked, the result is even more alarming: only one in two complies with the regulations. Among the frauds spotted by the agents of the DGCCRF: aromas with vanilla flavor mixed with water. The same goes for the natural vanilla aromas, of which only half are compliant. Some samples checked contained insufficient vanillin, or contained aromatic caramel to color the product.
Finally, of the 38 vanilla flavored products, 13 were deemed non-compliant by DGCCRF officials. Three contained very low vanillin content, if at all while another contained ethyl vanillin, a synthetic compound believed to replace vanilla. The fraudsters were warned or fined by the investigators. In view of the practices detected by fraud repression, the latter announces that it will continue to monitor the sector.
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