In a recent bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels, Cyprus's Agriculture Minister, Maria Panayiotou, sought assistance from Greece to combat the sale of foreign potatoes misrepresented as Cypriot in the Greek market. Panayiotou highlighted the significant economic repercussions of this issue to her Greek counterpart, Lefteris Avgenakis, who expressed his willingness to address the matter.
The ministers agreed to enhance inspections to swiftly act upon the detection of counterfeit "Cypriot" potatoes in Greece, aiming to verify such occurrences. They also concurred on implementing penalties for retailers involved in this deceit and on tracking down the entities responsible for packaging and falsely marketing these potatoes as originating from Cyprus.
For years, the Cypriot Department of Agriculture has received complaints about the mislabeling of potatoes, which undermines the reputation of genuine Cypriot potatoes in Greece. Despite targeted inspections in 2022 by Greek authorities, no conclusive evidence was found to levy sanctions. Efforts continue, including the development of a database with the Cypriot State General Laboratory to authenticate the Cypriot potato's unique characteristics scientifically.
Source: knews.kathimerini.com.cy