Europe's leading honey producer, Famille Michaud Apiculteurs, has been accused of "Frenchwashing" by giving its customers the false impression that its honey is wholly French when in reality it comes from other countries.
The Famille Michaud produces brands such as Lune de Miel, Miel l'Apiculteur and La Ruche aux Délices, which are sold in supermarkets.
A complaint to the Paris Court of Justice by UFC-Que Choisir, a powerful consumer rights group, argued the honey's origin was not clearly enough indicated on the labels of certain jars.
France's biggest honey producer was "affixing labels that lead consumers to believe that the product was harvested in France when this is not the case", the group said in a press release on Wednesday.
UFC-Que Choisir said mentions of the company's French origin as well as the Pyrenees location where the honey is put into jars was "over-emphasised" on the packaging and lids of honey that was actually imported from abroad.
Some jars even use the reference "miel de nos terroirs", meaning "honey from our land".
Small print
Every hour some 40,000 pots of honey leave the company's factory in Gan, southern France.
The honey is not always 100 percent French. Sometimes it's predominantly Hungarian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Spanish, Argentinian or even Vietnamese.
"The exact origin of the products is often relegated to a small print on the back of the jars, or even on the cap, using abbreviations that are sometimes difficult to understand," UFC-Que Choisir said.
Its president, Marie-Amandine Stévenin, told FranceInfo radio the average consumer would likely be misled because they were not receiving fair information.
Stévenin is calling for the introduction of labels that would "tell consumers, easily and clearly, the origin of the products that make up what they are buying".
'Slanderous denunciation'
The CEO of Famille Michaud Apiculteurs said the company "firmly" disputed the allegations.
Marie Michaud told the French news agency AFP that Famille Michaud Apiculteurs was preparing to take legal action against UFC-Que Choisir for "slanderous denunciation".
The company said the origins of all honeys contained in its jars were indicated on labels in accordance with regulations.
Since spring 2022, companies selling honey in France have been obliged to indicate the country of origin of honey blends when they are packaged in France.
France produces an average of 20,000 tonnes of honey a year, while the French consume an average of 45,000 tonnes a year, according to the Confédération Paysanne, France's third-largest farmers' union.
(with newswires)
