Spanish and Portuguese authorities have taken action to stop the introduction of potentially contaminated clams to the food service industry.
Eleven people have been arrested. They are suspected of having made at least €1.6 million ($1.8 million) in profit this year. More than seven tons of Japanese clams with a value of €150,000 ($175,000) were seized across two operations. Suspects may face charges such as environmental crime, money laundering, document fraud, as well as food and human health fraud.
The Spanish Guardia Civil’s Nature Protection Service, the Portuguese Economic and Food Safety Authority (ASAE) as well as the Maritime Police (Polícia Marítima) were supported by Europol’s experts on environmental crime.
Europol said in the border region between Portugal and Spain, the Manila or Japanese clam is harvested illegally in the river Tajo. Clams are kept alive in water containers before being put on the market. Suspects use fake documentation to bypass administrative and health inspection measures.
Clams are mainly distributed in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, posing a serious risk for consumers. Eating contaminated clams may cause food poisoning or other diseases.
The investigation started in April with raids on two days in June as well as one day at the end of July. The Guardia Civil initially seized a shipment of 235 kilograms of clams and shared this information with Europol.
Checks on wine and honey
ASAE has also released information about several other operations the agency has been part of recently.
In July, Operação Restoran involved inspecting establishments in Cascais to verify hygiene and food safety, with the aim of protecting public health.
Seven operators were inspected and five administrative offence proceedings were opened. Four sites had their operations suspended. Because of the lack of traceability, 8-kilograms of meat and 22 liters of sauces were seized.
ASAE helped in another operation targeting a wine distribution warehouse in the north of the country.
During the inspection, the storage and sale of wine in bottles labeled with origin information as coming from the Douro Region was detected.
This allows the operator to pass off the product as wine with characteristics and authenticity claims that are not accurate, misleading the consumer, obtaining higher profits and leading to unfair competition in the market.
Approximately 3,256 liters of wine were seized, and criminal proceedings were started for fraud involving label forgery and misuse of the designation of origin claim.
A similar operation covered wine products in Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo and Anadia.
More than 3,500 liters of wine were removed from one operator – 1,107 liters of white wine, 1,339 liters of red wine, and 1,057 liters of rosé wine. Bottles were ready to be released to the market but some labels were missing mandatory information. A total of 81,000 labels were also seized and administrative offense proceedings were opened.
At another firm, a criminal case was filed for adding citric acid to gin, with 1,330 liters seized. The product label mentioned citric acid but this is not permitted by law. It was confirmed by an analysis at the ASAE Food Safety Laboratory.
Finally, ASAE has carried out a national inspection operation focused on verifying compliance with the rules covering honey and bee product processing establishments, with the aim of detecting possible fraudulent practices in the authenticity, labeling and traceability of these products.
In Operação Mellis, 17 companies were visited. Checks at a company in Silves revealed a lack of documentation on honey traceability procedures, as well as non-compliance with hygiene requirements, and the lack of implementation of the HACCP system and safety processes. The business was suspended and three tons of honey was confiscated.
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