A Moscow Court has ordered French retail chain Auchan to suspend sales of bulk and unpackaged food goods in Russia, according to a statement released by the Moscow branch of consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor on Monday.
Auchan appealed a ban imposed on the chain by the watchdog earlier this year following a series of sanitary checks that resulted in alleged violations and a fine of 25 million rubles ($390,000), but the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled in Rospotrebnadzor's favor.
The ban applies to food items that are sold in bulk and not pre-packaged, such as tea, frozen shrimp, dumplings, vegetable mixes, semi-processed meat and vegetables, as well as cookies, candy, nuts and dried food.
Auchan has also come under scrutiny for alleged sanitary violations from the agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor. Inspectors found a number of violations in Auchan locations in Moscow and the surrounding Moscow concerning storage, processing and sales of meat products.
Auchan has been presented in the Russian market since 2002. The chain operates 88 hypermarkets around the country.
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