Tag Archives: illegal

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

An Unwelcome Message In A Bottle

By Susanne Kuehne
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Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Beach
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Adulterated alcohol continues to pose serious risks to health and even life of consumers. In this latest case from the Dominican Republic, more than two dozen people have died from methanol poisoning due to a low-cost illegally made drink, and from fake brand-named products. Businesses associated with the scams were raided and closed, and arrests were made. Officials keep warning against the consumption of illegally manufactured alcoholic beverages.

Resource

  1. News Desk. (April 10, 2021). “Deaths in Dominican Republic linked to tainted alcohol”. Food Safety News.

 

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

A Way Too Efficient Pesticide

By Susanne Kuehne
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Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Ladybug, Decernis
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Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Europol, the European police authority, estimates that up to 15% of pesticides are unapproved or counterfeit, resulting an annual impact of more than $6.5 billion on the legitimate pesticide industry. It is often unknown what ingredients are in these counterfeit products. Such substances, often sold online, can pose serious health and environmental risks. During the first half of 2020, Europol has seized a record amount of unapproved pesticides. Profit margins for criminals are very high due to relatively low production costs for pesticides. Criminals avoid the tedious, expensive and lengthy approval processes which are usually contributing significantly to the pesticides’ costs.

Resources

  1. Elahi, S. (October 22, 2020) “Poison in the field – The illegal (counterfeit) pesticide business”. Food Authenticity.
  2. Bartz, J. and Laska, R. “Milliardengeschäft mit gefälschten Pestiziden”. (October 10,2020). ZDF News.

 

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Deadly Fraudulent Libations

By Susanne Kuehne
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Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
counterfeit wine, food fraud
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Counterfeit alcoholic beverages keep claiming lives, like in this latest case in the state of Punjab in India. To curb the consumption of alcohol, the Indian government has imposed high taxes on alcoholic beverages, with the effect of increased illegal alcohol production. Often, the alcohol is from a variety of sources like nuts and sugar cane and of poor quality, posing a health hazard. Officials raided numerous operations and arrested multiple suspects, including police officers and customs officials.

Resource

  1. Jamshaid, U. (August 2, 2020). “India’s Death Toll From Counterfeit Alcohol Rises To 86 – Authorities”.
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Prosecution Puts an End to Cash Cow

By Susanne Kuehne
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Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Sulfites, food fraud
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Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Sulfites and sulfur dioxide can make meats look fresher than they truly are, and therefore are banned by the FDA The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code also prohibits the addition of sulfites to raw meat. Not only is there a risk of meat past its prime getting into the food supply, sulfites may also pose a danger to allergy and asthma sufferers. More than 23 tons of ground beef were freshened up illegally with sulfites and sold in New Zealand to consumers. The manufacturer was recently sentenced to a fine in this two-year old case.

Resource

  1. News Desk. (July 27, 2020). “NZ company fined for adding sulfites to ground beef”. Food Safety News.

The 2020 Food Safety Consortium Virtual Series features an episode on Food Integrity & Food Fraud. The episode takes place on Thursday, October 22. Learn more about 2020 FSC now!

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Not in Good Spirits

By Susanne Kuehne
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Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food fraud, brandy
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Fake brandy based on corn distillate was purchased by a Spanish company based in Georgia and was exported to other EU countries with falsified documentation. Fortunately, this alcohol fraud did not pose a health hazard like many other alcohol fraud cases. However, the economic gain for the fraudulent brandy was going to be huge, since a volume of 4 million liters of “brandy” was exported. EU regulations state that brandy is supposed to be based on wine distillate only, which costs up to four times more than distillate made from corn.

Resources

  1. Herraiz, P. El Mundo (September 16, 2019). “La trama del brandy español falsificado exportó cuatro millones de litros ilegalmente”.