The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2026
La Mie Câline's '100% French free-range eggs' claim was half wrong — €200,000 fine
The website promised eggs from French free-range hens only; the DGCCRF found half the egg products were not French. La Mie Câline paid a €200,000 fine.
La Mie Câline (Monts fournil) · 2026-06-23
What happened
La Mie Câline, the bakery chain based in Saint-Jean-de-Monts in the Vendée and owned by Monts fournil, said on its website that the eggs used across its bakery, viennoiserie and pastry range came exclusively from free-range hens and were of French origin: '100% de nos achats d'œufs sont issus de poules élevées en plein air et d'origine France'.
A DGCCRF investigation covering 1 January 2024 to 20 February 2025 found that half of the group's egg products were not of French origin — the website claim no longer reflected its actual supplies, making it a misleading commercial practice under the French Consumer Code. La Mie Câline accepted a €200,000 transactional fine. The company said avian-flu outbreaks had disrupted supply and forced it to source outside France.
The chain said it had updated in-store information when sourcing changed, but the website had been left out of date — an oversight it regretted, while reaffirming its commitment to transparent information. The case was made public on 23 June 2026.
Why it happened
- A provenance claim is a promise the supply chain must keep honouring: bird flu changed the sourcing, but the website kept making the promise.
- In-store information was updated while the website was not — the gap showed the change was known, so 'oversight' could not excuse the claim.
- Origin is exactly what such a claim sells: with half the egg products foreign, the statement as a whole misled consumers under French law.
The lesson
Provenance claims expire when sourcing changes: La Mie Câline kept promising French eggs after bird flu forced imports abroad. Update every channel, or drop the claim.
Aftermath
La Mie Câline accepted the €200,000 transactional fine and said it regretted the failure, attributing it to supply difficulties after avian influenza outbreaks. The DGCCRF control followed checks on the chain's website claim between January 2024 and February 2025.
Sources
- ici.fr: Vendée company La Mie Câline flagged over egg provenance — €200,000 fine to pay (23 June 2026)
- Ouest-France: La Mie Câline fined €200,000 for wrong information on egg origin (23 June 2026)
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