Some 35,000 bottles of pop have been destroyed by French customs officers because it bore the name ‘champagne’.
The bottles, which hailed from Haiti, were seized in autumn 2021 in the port of Le Havre and have now been destroyed on the orders of Parisian court.
The bright orange fizzy drinks, one of the oldest and most popular made in Haiti, are called Couronne Fruit Champagne and therefore contravene strict AOC (Appellation d’origine contrôlée) laws which state only sparkling wine from France’s Champagne region can bear the name ‘champagne’.
Charles Goemaere, director of the Comité Champagne, the body which protects and promotes champagne, said: “The fight against the abuse of the Champagne name started in 1844 and hasn’t stopped since.”
In April this year, 2,352 cans of US beer Miller Light fell foul of the rules for bearing the slogan ‘the champagne of beers’, and were destroyed in Belgium at the behest of the Comité Champagne.
Mr Goemaere said: “This destruction is the result of a successful collaboration between Belgian customs authorities and the Comité Champagne. It confirms the importance that the European Union attaches to designations of origin and rewards the determination of the Champagne producers to protect their designation”. He would also like to “congratulate the Belgian Customs for their vigilance with regard to the Champagne designation and for their responsiveness.”
Kristian Vanderwaeren, administrator of the Belgian Customs Service, added: “It is very important for us to be able to work closely with organisations such as the Comité Champagne. The Comité Champagne helps train our teams and provides information that allows us to identify whether products are genuine or counterfeit. When a counterfeit is detected, as is the case here, we also agree on the decision to destroy these goods and how to get them destroyed.”
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