Fraud and non-compliance issues discussed by European countries in August were at their lowest levels since reporting began in early 2024.
The number of suspicions of food and other fraud raised by EU Member States fell in August. The number of warnings has fallen from 325 in July, 265 in June, 281 in May, 341 in April, 345 in March and 318 in February. In January there were 277.
The problems mentioned are possible fraud. Non-compliance may lead to investigations by authorities in EU Member States. Details come from a monthly report published by the European Commission.
Data includes suspected cross-border fraud topics shared between members of the Alert and Cooperation Network (ACN) and sourced from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), the Administrative Assistance and Cooperation Network (AAC) and the Agri-Food Fraud Network (FFN).
It covers food, feed, materials that come into contact with food, animal welfare for farm animals, plant protection products and veterinary products that end up as residues and contaminants in food and feed.
The aim is to help national authorities set up risk-based controls to combat fraudulent and deceptive practices, help the food sector with vulnerability assessments and identify emerging risks.
A total of 46 notices mentioned fruit and vegetables, the majority of which were non-compliant due to pesticide residues. Diet foods, supplements and fortified foods come in second place with 37 warnings. Herbs and spices rose to third place, while grains and bakery products fell to fourth.
Most problems came to light through border inspections or market controls. A total of 16 were found after consumer complaints and 24 after a company’s internal audit.
Examples of reported problems
In August, six alerts involved the United States. This included cheese sauce for which border controls were missing, sunset yellow in snacks, traceability problems with lobsters and ingredients in supplements that are not permitted in Europe.
Cases of product tampering included cow’s milk in sheep’s cheese from Italy, ethylene oxide in herbs and spices from India, Sudan dyes in curry powder from Turkey, fresh beef products illegally frozen with an extended shelf life from Uruguay, and the sale of salami from Italy that was unsuitable for consumption due to yeasts and molds.
Record fraud incidents included counterfeit coffee from the Czech Republic, two readable microchips on a slaughter horse from France, mislabelling of sunflower oil and extra virgin olive oil from Italy, and falsified traceability meaning the origin of raspberries was unknown.
Other issues raised included the diversion of four horses of unknown origin, the leucomalachite green in catfish from Vietnam, the smuggling of crayfish from Poland, counterfeit sauce from Latvia and the transport temperature of poultry sausages from Ukraine.
Several non-compliance cases listed ingredients not allowed in the EU and pesticides above maximum residue limits (MRL). Other warnings were due to traceability issues or products failing border controls.
Using technology to tackle fraud
Meanwhile, the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) has proposed integrating traceability technologies, digital innovations and authenticity systems into safety standards.
In a reportAccording to the JRC, the aim is to benefit European citizens by ensuring that the food they consume is safe, authentic and of high quality.
A significant volume of food chain data is already accessible at European and international level, enabling a shift towards a digital, risk-based approach to securing the food system. However, these data sources are spread across different food businesses, Member State authorities and European Commission services and are not always interoperable.
The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante) uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze large amounts of data. This step helps detect irregularities that could indicate fraud, integrate information related to fraud in the agricultural sector, generate early warning signals of possible fraud and help manage suspicious cases.
The report recommends the establishment of an independent data trust to facilitate food fraud data sharing between industry and authorities, and a public-private partnership to promote the adoption of interoperable digital traceability systems by food companies, facilitating data sharing with the authorities if necessary.
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