If you are caught doing this, you could risk a fine or even imprisonment.
In supermarkets, you usually see all kinds of customers. There are those who shop methodically with a detailed list in their hands, those who review the catalog looking for new promotions, or those who spend some time in a department looking for the product with the best composition … Behaviors that are not reprehensible in themselves. And yet, among all customer habits, there is one that comes up regularly and is strictly prohibited.
This involves tasting a product in bulk without the merchant’s authorization. This is often the case in the fruit and vegetable sections of supermarkets. Customers who sometimes taste a fruit, such as a grape, a strawberry, a raspberry, a cherry tomato, do so either for pure pleasure or to ensure the quality of the product before purchasing it. They want to check if it is ripe, sweet or to their liking. Except that this act which seems harmless is absolutely not, since it can be compared to theft.
Indeed, according to the expert in law and finance, Masdak, author of the book “Ending scams” (Solar editions), “If you taste a product without the seller’s permission, this may be considered fraudulent taking of someone else’s thing.” This offense is defined in the Penal Code and can be compared to theft. “Even if the intention is not to appropriate the product, consuming it without authorization can be legally interpreted as theft,” specifies the specialist in his work. Which is in fact punishable by 3 years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
Conversely, if the merchant himself offers his customers the chance to taste one of his Mirabelle plums, for example, or a piece of melon, the customer can of course do so without being in violation. In any case, to avoid a possible sanction, it is always recommended to ask for authorization before tasting a product in a supermarket, even if you have planned to buy it.