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Kiwigate: Police uncover massive Italian fruit fraud

'Inferior' Italian kiwi fruit were 'Frenchified' and sold for higher prices in a long-running scam uncovered by French police.

Published: 25 March 2019 16:32 CET

Kiwigate: Police uncover massive Italian fruit fraud

Kiwis from Italy on sale in Saintes, western France. Photo: AFP

French authorities said Monday that they had dismantled a long-running scam to label and sell Italian kiwis as pricier French fruit.

“Kiwis imported from Italy were 'Frenchified' during transport so that they could be sold at a higher price,” Virginie Beaumeunier of the country's DGCCRF anti-fraud agency said at a press conference.

The fraud involved some 15,000 tonnes of kiwis over a three-year period, and the agency said seven companies were facing charges after making a combined six million euros in illicit profits.

READ ALSO: Police confiscate 150 million euros from fruit and veg mafiosi brothers

French and Italian media quickly labelled the scam 'Kiwigate', with French growers saying Italian production costs are lower and Italian kiwis are treated with pesticides banned in France.

“Unlike the Italians, we don't use anti-spoiling fungicides after harvesting which conserve them for several months, so we have higher losses in cold-storage rooms, which increases our production costs,” said Francois Lafitte, president of the French kiwi growers' association.

The estimated 1,100 growers in France, mainly in the southwest, produce around 55,000 tonnes a year, not enough to meet the country's annual consumption of 80,000 tonnes.

As a result imports pour in from neighbouring Italy, the world's biggest producer of the fruit, as well as from New Zealand or Chile in the off-season.

Italy itself suffers huge economic losses every year due to foreign produce, from cheese to sparkling wine, being falsely labelled and sold abroad as “Made in Italy.”

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Why you don’t need to leave large tips at Italian restaurants

American tourists, coming from the land of mandatory tip culture, are prone to reflexively tipping 20 percent or more wherever they travel in the world. And many would be aghast at the idea of not leaving a tip at all.

But in Italy, as regular visitors know, tipping really is not required or expected.

Visitors are sometimes confused about this because staff at some restaurants encourage American visitors to tip generously by suggesting that it is, in fact, the norm.

If Italians tip, they do so occasionally for good service, and making a habit of tipping modestly when dining out in the country will help you blend in better with the locals.

Why don’t Italians tip in restaurants?

If you come from a country where tipping is expected it can feel uncomfortable not to do so.

But there are a couple of reasons why Italians don’t usually tip – or if they do, they leave a moderate amount.

Reader question: How do I know if I should tip at Italian restaurants?

Italian restaurant bills often already include small service charges, normally of a couple of euros per head, which will be listed as servizio on the bill.

(You might also see a ‘coperto’ or cover charge, which is not specifically a service charge. This goes to the restaurant rather than the server.)

And Italy doesn’t have much of a tipping culture simply because Italian wait staff aren’t reliant on tips to get by like they are in many parts of the US.

As is the case elsewhere in Europe, they are paid a standard wage and any tips are viewed as an added extra.

So, while tipping is always appreciated, rest assured that it’s entirely your choice (beyond servizio charges.)

What if I want to tip anyway?

Italians might tip in recognition of standout service and when there’s no servizio charge listed.

But tipping here is modest: it would be very unusual to leave 20 percent or even more.

You can leave an Italian-style tip in the form of a couple of extra euros per person, or by rounding the bill up to the nearest five or ten.

READ ALSO: What are the rules on tipping in Italy?

If you’re paying by card, bear in mind that very few places will be able to add a tip to the card payment – so you might want to carry some change or small notes with you.

What if the waiter asks for a tip?

It’s not unheard of for wait staff at some restaurants in tourist hotspots to suggest that tipping is a requirement in Italy, or even to tell customers that “service is not included”.

Restaurant staff in popular destinations are of course well aware of the generous amounts commonly left by some overseas visitors – and some do try to encourage this.

While this tactic leaves some customers unimpressed and less likely to tip, others say they feel pressured and end up tipping just in case.

If there’s no servizio charge on the bill, it may be technically true that service is not included.

But tipping is always at the customer’s discretion in Italy, and staff at reputable restaurants don’t tend to ask.

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