Tag Archives: Brazil

Karen Constable
Food Fraud Quick Bites

No Horsing Around

Karen Constable

You may remember the horse meat scandal of 2013, which involved the recall of at least 10 million products[i] and prompted a new era of awareness of food fraud risks among the international food safety community. In that scandal, horse meat was being used to replace beef.

Despite the widespread publicity received by the horse meat scandal, similar frauds have happened since 2013. For example, in 2021, six people were arrested in Brazil and accused of stealing horses, then selling their meat “disguised” as beef.[ii] Authorities said that up to 60% of restaurants in the area had unknowingly purchased the fraudulent “beef.”

Horse meat is not only used by criminals to replace beef. In regions where horse meat is regularly consumed, such as in many parts of Europe, the ingredient itself is vulnerable to food fraud. Fraud occurs when horses that are not safe to eat are used for human food.

Veterinary drugs, including pain killers and horse worming treatments, can render horsemeat unsafe and make the horse unsuitable for food. Horse passports are used to keep records of veterinary drug treatments and show whether a horse has been ‘signed out’ of the human food chain.[iii]

In September 2022, authorities in the Netherlands discovered incorrect passports for slaughtered horses in the human food supply chain.[iv] The food originated in the Netherlands and was distributed to Belgium, France, Germany and Italy.

Horse meat fraud is attractive to criminals because it offers good profits. There is an abundant supply of horses from the equine racing and recreational horse industries. Unwanted horses are expensive to keep, so they are sold at very low prices or even given away for free. Operations that process cheap or free horses for food can be very profitable.

Food fraud perpetrators who wish to use unsuitable horses for human food must therefore falsify horse passports and other documents to make the horse meat appear legitimate, or use clandestine slaughterhouses and sell the meat through illegitimate supply chains.

There have been 11 notifications of problems with horse passports in Europe since January 2020 reported in the European Commission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). These include “Incorrect passports of slaughtered horses”; “Poor traceability records (forged passports) for horse from the Netherlands”; “Horse without medicine pages in the passport”; “Horsemeat from an animal excluded from the food chain” and “Incorrect registration information on horse carcasses.” In 2017, a veterinary drug banned in Europe was found in horse meat imported from Brazil.[v]

Authorities in Spain and Belgium recently smashed a criminal network that was profiting from horse meat fraud and that involved illegal slaughter and falsification of documents. Forty-one people were arrested over their links to the operation. The alleged perpetrators are accused of obtaining horses that were not fit for human consumption, slaughtering them in clandestine operations and falsifying documents to make the resulting meat appear to be legal and safe. The network is believed to have been operating since 2019 and may have netted the criminals more than EUR 1.5 million.[vi] One commentator estimated that a horse obtained for less than EUR 100 was worth EUR 1500 after illegal processing and falsification of its legal status.[vii]

 

References:

[i] Writer, S. (2013). Living to tell the tail: how and why Australia survived the horse meat scandal. [online] Food & Beverage Industry News. Available at: https://www.foodmag.com.au/living-to-tell-the-tail-how-and-why-australia-survived-the-horse-meat-scandal/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2022].

[ii] Hallam, A.R., Jonny (2021). Gang sold tons of horse disguised as beef and put rotting meat in hamburgers, Brazilian officials say. [online] CNN. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/19/americas/brazil-horse-meat-gang-intl-hnk-scli/index.html [Accessed 8 Dec. 2022].

[iii] www.businesscompanion.info. (n.d.). Horse passports | Business Companion. [online] Available at: https://www.businesscompanion.info/en/quick-guides/animals-and-agriculture/horse-passports [Accessed 8 Dec. 2022].

[iv] webgate.ec.europa.eu. (n.d.). RASFF WINDOW. [online] Available at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/569545 [Accessed 8 Dec. 2022].

[v] foodnavigator.com (n.d.). Belgium horsemeat call after drug found in Brazilian imports. [online] foodnavigator.com. Available at: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2017/01/19/Belgium-horsemeat-call-after-drug-found-in-Brazilian-imports [Accessed 8 Dec. 2022].

[vi] Europol. (n.d.). 41 arrests for selling potentially dangerous horse meat. [online] Available at: https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/41-arrests-for-selling-potentially-dangerous-horse-meat [Accessed 8 Dec. 2022].

[vii] Desk, N. (2022). Europol and Spain lead horse meat fraud investigation. [online] Food Safety News. Available at: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2022/12/europol-and-spain-lead-horse-meat-fraud-investigation/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2022].

 

 

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Wake Up And Seize the Coffee

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Coffee, Food fraud
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database, owned and operated by Decernis, a Food Safety Tech advertiser. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Twelve thousand packs of adulterated coffee that did not match quality standards were seized in Brazil. The coffee was not labeled correctly, and in addition contained foreign matter, such as bark and wood. This investigation is part of a larger operation that altogether seized 15 tons of adulterated coffee, which contained corn, did not adhere to quality standards, and was packaged with a counterfeit purity seal.

Resource

  1. Brito, J. (January 18, 2022). “De milho a madeira na composição: 12 mil pacotes de café são apreendidos no ES”. Espirito Santo.
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Juicy Fraud Case Revealed

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Orange slice, food fraud
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database, owned and operated by Decernis, a Food Safety Tech advertiser. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

“Carbon Content of the C3 Cycle” is the method of choice used by the laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply in Brazil to identify exogenous sugar in juices. In a recent operation, 173,000 liters of juices and coconut water adulterated with 30% added sugars and water were discovered. The fraudulent products were seized and rendered unusable, and large fines are awaiting the offenders. The C3 photosynthetic cycle method has traditionally been used to detect added sugars in the winemaking process.

Resource

  1. Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento. (July 30, 2021). “Ação de fiscalização do Mapa apreende 173 mil litros de bebidas com indícios de fraude”.
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

The Magic of Making Olive Oil without Olives

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Food forgery cases keep raising great concerns about consumers’ health and safety all over the world. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply in Brazil prohibited sales of nine brands of fake olive oil. A criminal organization sold soybean oil as extra virgin olive oil under fictitious labels. All oils sold under these brands are being pulled from the market and destroyed. Several Brazilian agencies were working together on this case, including the Consumer Protection Police (Decon).

Resource

  1. Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (November 17, 2020) “Proibida a comercialização de nove marcas de azeite de oliva”. Governo do Brasil.

 

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Olive Oil, Again And Again

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Olive Oil
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database.
Image credit: Susanne Kuehne.

Fraudulent olive oil made its way into the retail market in Brazil. More than 1300 bottles of product labeled extra virgin olive oil were seized, the oil was analyzed and found to be fraudulent. An investigation about the source of the adulteration and whether the fraud happened at the producer or in retail is still ongoing.

Resource

  1. Samara, O. and Ferreira, C. (June 2, 2020) “Equipe da Decon apreende mais de 1.300 frascos de azeite adulterados na Grande Vitória”. Polícia Civil do Espírito Santo (PCES).
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Fraud Is the Spice Of Life

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud, cumin
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne.

The high value of spices makes them one of the most popular targets for intentional adulteration. Researchers in Brazil developed an efficient method for fraud detection: Near-infrared spectrometer (NIR) associated with chemometrics. This method is able to detect adulterants like corn flour and cassava in spice samples, revealing a high rate of adulteration, between 62% for commercial black pepper and 79% for cumin samples.

Resource

  1. Amanda Beatriz Sales de Lima et al. (January 2020). “Fast quantitative detection of black pepper and cumin adulterations by near-infrared spectroscopy and multivariate modeling”. Food Control. Vol. 107.
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Malt, Hops, Water, Yeast…and Antifreeze

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Beer, food fraud
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database.
Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Diethylene glycol (DEG) is a substance that is highly toxic to humans. It is used in a wide range of applications, such as brake fluid and as a raw material for resins, and it is often present in antifreeze. In Brazil, more than a dozen people were poisoned by beer containing DEG. The suspected products were recalled and the case is under investigation. It is not clear yet whether the DEG was intentionally added to commit fraud, or whether the contamination was unintentional. We are observing this case very closely, since diethylene glycol has been used for fraudulent purposes in beverages in the past.

Resource

News Desk (January 15, 2020). “Backer told to recall beer linked to poisoning in Brazil”.

 

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Not a Well-Oiled Machine

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Olive oil and food fraud
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne.

A large recall was initiated by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply for Brazilian olive oil unfit for human consumption, and retailers and traders are requested to report and pull faulty products off the shelves. Large fines will be issued for non-compliance. The fake olive oils are sold very cheaply, but may be a health hazard. An infrared analysis was made to check the composition of fatty acids, which uncovered the fraud.

Resource

  1. Janete Lima – Coordenação-geral de Comunicação Social (July 5, 2019). “Ministério proíbe venda de azeite de oliva de seis marcas após descoberta de fraudes”. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, Brazil.