Learn to identify "copycat food"

In our daily consumption, we sometimes find food mixed with counterfeit or imitation food with other people's trademarks or packaging, commonly known as "copycat food". How to identify and avoid buying "copycat food"? If you buy "copycat food", how can you protect your legal rights?

“Counterfeit Food” Has Hidden Dangers

More found in rural areas

"Counterfeit food" differs from branded food in terms of raw materials, ingredients, quality and taste, and its quality and safety cannot be guaranteed. Since its production and operation costs are relatively lower than "authentic" products, it is usually sold at a lower price than "authentic" products, but it can still make a profit. Some manufacturers do not have the relevant food production qualifications, and some unscrupulous vendors take risks to make profits and use food additives or illegal additives at will.

"Fake food" is related to economic and social development. In the early days of reform and opening up, most "fake food" was sold in cities and towns. With the further development of the economy and the strengthening of food safety supervision, the sales of "fake food" gradually shifted to rural areas where supervision was relatively weak.

There are two types of “copycat food”

Good at using sleight of hand

There are roughly two categories of "copycat foods": one is to register trademarks similar to certain brand foods, produce foods with similar packaging, use word games on the food names or imitate brand foods, but their quality and flavor are far from the "authentic" ones, such as changing "Dabaitu" to "Xiaobaitu", "Master Kong" to "Kangshoubo", and "Six Walnuts" to "Six Pure Walnuts" to pretend to be an upgraded version; the other is to entrust some processing companies to imitate the relevant products for production and sell them privately.

Four steps to identify authenticity

Joint governance of “shanzhai” to ensure safety

"Counterfeit food" usually attracts consumers with highly similar packaging and misleading names and advertising slogans, achieving the effect of "making the fake look real". When purchasing food, consumers should look carefully, clearly, truly and clearly, and not be confused by the packaging and names of "counterfeit food".

Formal channels are guaranteed. Consumers should buy food in regular stores, shopping malls or supermarkets, and be wary of food sold by merchants who do not have business qualifications. When buying food, they should ask for and properly keep shopping receipts, invoices and other vouchers, and appropriately keep product packaging and remaining products.

Carefully identify the name to distinguish the authenticity of food. The name of the food is one of the elements to identify "counterfeit food". When purchasing, consumers should carefully identify the name of the food and identify the products produced by regular companies.

Label elements must be complete. According to relevant national standards and regulations, the labels of pre-packaged foods provided directly to consumers should include: food name, ingredient list, net content and specifications, name, address and contact information of the producer and (or) distributor, production date and shelf life, storage conditions, food production license number, product standard code, etc. Pre-packaged "copycat foods" may be missing, counterfeit, or confusing. Consumers should carefully identify the above content and not buy or eat foods without labels or with incomplete or unclear label information.

Scientific knowledge helps to distinguish

Consumers should be alert to situations where the ingredient list is obviously inconsistent with the nutritional information list. For example, if the ingredient list contains protein raw materials such as milk and milk powder, but the protein content in the nutritional information list is 0 g/100 ml (or 0 g/100 g). Consumers should not buy products with similar labeling problems.

Eliminating “copycats” depends on everyone

Happy life for you and me

Solving the problem of "counterfeit food" in rural areas requires addressing many aspects.

First, food producers and operators, as well as operators who provide them with trademark, advertising, packaging and other services, must abide by the relevant national laws and regulations, regulate their trademark, advertising and competition behaviors, and strictly regulate the use of labels and logos.

Second, we should strengthen the publicity of the potential harm of "counterfeit food" and raise consumers' awareness of food safety. In particular, we should strengthen consumers' awareness of food quality and safety in rural areas.

Third, when consumers buy food, if they find that they have mistakenly purchased "counterfeit food", they should immediately negotiate with the merchant, or call 12315 to report and complain, report to the regulatory authorities, and protect their legitimate rights and interests through appeals and other means.