Organized crime in Europe has found a new money making machine by engaging in food fraud, which often goes undetected and is relatively low risk compared to other criminal activities. Opson, an Europol-Interpol joint operation, confiscated 16,000 tons of fake food items and 33 million liters of fraudulent beverages in 2018, a new record, but also probably just the tip of the iceberg. Government agencies do not have the resources to detect all fraudulent activities, and suspected food fraud cases moving through the federal and local government hierarchies is a long and cumbersome process.
Susanne Kuehne joined Decernis in 2016 as senior manager, business development. She has 20+ years of experience in the chemicals, plastics, coatings and beverage spaces. Kuehne is located at the Washington, D.C. office, but is originally from the Stuttgart, Germany area. She studied chemistry and business in Germany, then worked for Grace GmbH in Worms, Germany before moving to the United States in 2000. She worked for Grace in the United States before joining the beverage industry for eight years. Kuehne’s focus is food contact and chemical industry clients world-wide, across the multiple disciplines Decernis covers.
Kuehne holds a Dipl.-Ing (FH) Farbe/Chemie from Fachhochschule fuer Druck, Stuttgart, and a Dipl.-Betriebswirt (FH) from AKAD Fachhochschule, Lahr.