Voluntary exchanges on suspected cross-border food fraud increased again last year, according to the EU Agri-Food Fraud Network (EU FFN) and the Administrative Assistance and Cooperation System (AAC-FF) annual report, published Wednesday, 8 September, by the European Commission.
The number of requests for assistance made by Member States rose to 349 (from 292 in 2019) and has more than doubled in 5 years (157 in 2016), confirming a steady increase in the use of the system and the intensification of the fight against fraud.
The ‘fats and oils’ category—mainly olive oil—topped the list of requests, followed by ‘fish and fishery products’ (34), ‘irregularities in the movement of cats and dogs’ (33), ‘poultry meat and poultry meat products’ (28), ‘honey and royal jelly’ (25), ‘meat and meat products other than poultry’ (25), ‘dietetic foods and food supplements’ (22), and ‘fruits and vegetables’ (21).
The European Commission provides network members with intelligence and data analysis and coordinates activities to follow up on cases of suspected fraud. It also requests investigations from the competent authorities of third countries when the potential fraud concerns imports.
As an example of coordinated action, the report cites the contaminated clams that led to a foodborne outbreak in Spain in 2018 and that were suspected to have been harvested in unauthorised areas. The cooperation uncovered a widespread problem involving recurrent operators using similar patterns in other EU countries.
The EU FFN also works with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). In 2020, network members also participated in OPSON—a joint Europol and Interpol initiative that targeted the trafficking of counterfeit food and drink—and in Operation LAKE, which focused on the trafficking of the European eel (Anguilla Anguilla), a protected species.
See the report: https://bit.ly/3hgWIqI (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)