"Raspberry Company Scam Revealed: Exported as Chilean Products but actually Chinese" - October 6, 2020

...After digging through files, company data and sales records, they discovered the pattern of this scam: low-cost frozen raspberry berries, which were grown in China (Harbin Gaotai Food Co., Ltd). The fruits were then sent to Chile through an intermediary, Directus South East Asia Ltd, based in New Zealand. Subsequently, the fruits were sent to consumers in Canadian cities such as Vancouver and Montreal, according to documents prepared by Chilean customs as part of their investigation. Reuters calculated that at least 12 million dollars in mislabeled raspberries were sent to Canada between 2014 and 2016...According to the agency's report with trade experts, the Canada-Chile trade pact, in effect since 1997, allows exporters to self-certify the origin of their products. The agreement allowed mislabeled raspberries to enter Canada without tariffs, evading a 6% tax levied on the same fruit imported from China, according to Chilean customs documents...For this case, in August 2019, the Chilean justice system convicted the owner of Frutti di Bosco, César Ramírez. The false export operation of the company based in Santiago Centro included the certificate of origin and the adulterated organic product...