Brussels, 30/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 30 March, anti-fraud investigators, vets and public health experts from various EU countries debated measures to combat the illegal trade in agricultural products and the attendant health risks for consumers. The seminar was organised in the Slovenian town of Bled by Slovenian Customs and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). “In the context of fraud in trade with agricultural products, there is a potential risk for public and animal health. We think it is necessary to draw greater attention of national and international control services to this problem,” said OLAF Director Franz-Hermann Brüner. He went on, “Only close international cooperation can ensure the best possible protection of the consumer and of the financial interests of the European Union”.
Those taking part in the seminar examined the legal and scientific aspects of this illegal trade. Several operational cases were discussed which show the need for cooperation between national customs and veterinary services and EU authorities such as OLAF. Experts looked closely at the well-known dismantling, in 2000, a Franco-Italo-Belgian network which produced and marketed 16,000 tonnes of adulterated butter made of beef suet and fats for use in the cosmetic industry (see EUROPE 7753 and 7868). Fortunately this affair had no health consequences. Other cases discussed were the import of Buffalo meat from India falsely declared as beef from Australia and New Zealand (import of this type of beef is banned in the EU to protect European herds from the foot-and-mouth disease virus which is endemic in Indian buffalo); the false declaration of tigernuts as flower bulbs when being imported to the EU (these nuts have to undergo thorough tests to ensure they do not contain a toxin, the test on flower bulbs being less strict).