Fraud and non-compliance issues discussed in August by European countries were at their lowest level since reporting began in early 2024.
The number of food and other fraud suspicions raised by EU member states declined in August. The 222 alerts are down from 325 in July, 265 in June, 281 in May, 341 in April, 345 in March, and 318 in February. There were 277 in January.
The issues listed are potential frauds. Non-compliance may prompt 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 retrieved from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), Administrative Assistance and Cooperation Network (AAC) and the Agri-Food Fraud Network (FFN).
It covers food, animal feed, food contact materials, animal welfare for farmed animals, plant protection products, and veterinary medicine products that end up as residues and contaminants in food and feed.
The aims are to assist national authorities in setting 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, with the majority being non-compliant due to pesticide residues. Dietetic foods, supplements, and fortified foods ranked second with 37 alerts. Herbs and spices climbed to third, while cereals and bakery products dropped to fourth.
The majority of issues were uncovered through border inspections or market controls. In total, 16 were found after consumer complaints and 24 after a company’s internal check.
Examples of reported issues
In August, six alerts involved the United States. They included cheese sauce missing border controls, sunset yellow in snacks, traceability issues with lobsters, and ingredients in supplements not allowed in Europe.
Product tampering cases included cow’s milk in a sheep 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 best-before date from Uruguay, and sale of salami from Italy that was unfit for consumption due to yeasts and mold.
Record tampering incidents featured counterfeit coffee from the Czech Republic, two readable microchips on a horse for slaughtering from France, mislabeling of sunflower oil and extra virgin olive oil from Italy, and forged traceability, meaning the origin of raspberries was unknown.
Other issues raised were the diversion of four horses from an 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-compliances mentioned ingredients not authorized in the EU and pesticides above the maximum residue limits (MRL). Other alerts were due to traceability concerns or products missing border controls.
Using technology to tackle fraud
Meanwhile, the EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has proposed integrating traceability technologies, digital innovations, and authenticity systems into safety standards.
In a report, the JRC said the aim was to benefit European citizens by ensuring the food they consume is safe, authentic, and of high quality.
A substantial volume of food chain data is already accessible at European and international levels, enabling a shift towards a digital, risk-based approach to safeguarding the food system. However, these data sources are dispersed across various food businesses, authorities in member states, and EU Commission services and are not always interoperable.
The EU Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante) uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze vast data. This move helps detect irregularities that could point to fraud, integrate information related to agri-food fraud, generate early warning signals of potential fraud, and assist in managing suspicious cases.
The report recommends creating an independent data trust to facilitate the sharing of food fraud data between industry and authorities and a public-private partnership to promote the adoption of interoperable digital traceability systems by food businesses, allowing data sharing with authorities as needed.
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)