The latest batch of suspected fraud and non-compliance alerts in Europe include supplements, meat products, fish and chocolate.
There were 164 reports in September, compared to 166 in August, 136 in July, 164 in June, and 129 in May. Three alerts involved the United States in September. Two were related to food supplements and the other was for whey protein that bypassed border controls.
Issues listed are potential frauds. 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).
A total of 36 reports mentioned dietetic foods, food supplements and fortified foods. Second was confectionery with 18 notices and there were 10 reports for wine.
The majority of issues were uncovered through market controls. On five occasions, the method of detection was a company’s internal inspection and 12 times it was a consumer complaint.
September highlights
Levels of ascorbic acid above the maximum limit were found in a tuna burger from Spain. This additive can be used to give tuna a brighter color and make it look fresher. There were also suspicions of reddening and water addition in frozen tuna from Vietnam.
In suspected adulteration cases, extra virgin olive oil and olive oil from Lebanon and Italy contained other vegetable oils.
Two notifications mentioned Dubai chocolate. One from Turkey was because of tartrazine and the other from Poland contained peanuts but the label only said: “may contain peanuts”.
An alert was raised by Ireland for alleged counterfeiting of chocolates from the UK and another was for beef sold after its use-by date in Poland.
Eggs from Ukraine lacked an identification mark while eggs from the Netherlands did not have a known registration number or country code.
There were several notices for forged invoices or labels involving salmon, fruits and vegetables, and various products from Latvia.
Kratom was found in sweets from the Czech Republic and there was irradiation of paprika from China.
In one incident, cattle from Romania had no identification mark, health certificate or passports but there were animal welfare infringements. Another case involved attempted illegal import of products of animal origin from Sri Lanka that were concealed in plant-based products and misrepresented as non-animal origin goods.
In Spain, there was re-labeling and distribution of meat products by an operator that did not hold a valid authorization. Other findings include unlabeled meat products from Austria and unknown origin of wild boar meat.
There were transport temperature problems with frozen food in Sweden and poultry meat in the Netherlands.
Several non-compliances listed ingredients not authorized in the EU, items skipping border controls, as well as residues of veterinary medicines and pesticides above the maximum residue limits (MRL).
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