Fraud and non-compliance issues discussed by European countries in September remained at lower levels than figures from earlier this year.
The number of suspicions of food and other fraud raised by EU Member States fell in September. The number of warnings has fallen from 222 in August, 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, assist the food sector with vulnerability assessments and identify emerging risks.
A total of 53 notices mentioned fruit and vegetables, most of which were non-compliant due to pesticide residues. Diet foods, supplements and fortified foods come in second place with 36 warnings. Herbs and spices ranked third, with grains and bakery products in fourth.
Most problems came to light through border inspections or market controls. A total of 12 were found after consumer complaints and 21 after a company’s internal audit. Two of these were because of information from whistleblowers.
Examples of highlighted issues
In September, six alerts involved the United States. They include dichlorvos in almonds, additives in cereals, soft drinks and snacks, and ingredients in supplements that are not allowed in Europe.
Cases of product tampering include adulteration of olive oil with other oils from Italy, the water content of chicken meat from Poland, ethylene oxide in xanthan gum from China and a spice mix from Pakistan.
Two incidents involved tuna: one related to carbon monoxide in tuna from Vietnam and the other related to atypical color and sensory problems, making a product from Denmark unsuitable for consumption.
Record fraud incidents included the processing of chicken nuggets after their expiry date in Germany, the unknown origin of kebab meat, the falsification of the origin of berries, the lack of traceability of squid from Chile and the falsification of health certificates for xanthan gum from China.
Other issues raised included animal by-products entering the food chain in France, the processing of shrimp unfit for human consumption in Spain, an unlicensed operator of dairy products in Poland, and the lack of traceability for meat from the Netherlands.
The illegal import reports concerned products of animal origin from Great Britain and biscuits with milk from Syria.
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.
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