Several organisations filed a joint complaint against German supermarket chains Aldi and Lidl, claiming they are luring customers with "stunt" prices and are selling at a loss.
Retailers' organisation UNIZO, Buurtsuper.be (the organisation of specialist supermarkets), and the Federation of Fish Traders jointly filed a complaint with the Economic Inspectorate against supermarket giants Aldi and Lidl. They argued the supermarkets are abusing mussels, one of Belgium's most popular seasonal products, to lure customers.
In a recent promotional campaign, their supermarkets sold the smallest categories of mussels at €2 to €3/kg. "At these prices, even fish wholesalers cannot buy those smaller mussels from the grower, let alone the wholesaler," the organisations argued.
Unaffordable mussels
The organisations argued that so-called "decoy practices" threaten to make the larger category of mussels, sold by specialised fish shops and neighbourhood supermarkets, almost unaffordable.
"By mass purchasing these smaller mussels, the molluscs at the grower get less and less of a chance to mature into categories such as 'Goldmark' that need two years of growing time," they noted.
"The supply of the larger categories coveted by people in Flanders has become much smaller and almost unaffordable, highlighting that while stunt prices seem to be advantageous for consumers in the short term, in the long term, they are damaging.
They want the Economic Inspectorate to carry out checks on whether these mass promotions are introduced for an offer so small that many interested customers have no chance to buy it, a practice they argue is banned in Belgium.
They also suspect that Lidl and Aldi are selling mussels at a loss, which again is prohibited by law.
UNIZO and Buurtsuper.be have long been calling for a ban on excessive promotions in the food sector. While the Vivaldi government (now the government in current affairs), promised to work on this following the farmers' protests, the matter has been put on pause until the next government comes into power.
When contacted by local media Lidl did not comment on the accusations, while Aldi denies any talk of selling at a loss.
