K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Largest-ever seizures of fake food and drink in INTERPOL-Europol operation

March 30, 2016 - From Interpol.int:
"More than 10,000 tonnes and one million litres of hazardous fake food and drink have been seized in operations across 57 countries in an INTERPOL-Europol coordinated initiative to protect public health and safety."
"Operation Opson V resulted in seizures ranging from nearly nine tonnes of counterfeit sugar contaminated with fertilizer in Khartoum, Sudan to Italian officers recovering more than 85 tonnes of olives which had been ‘painted’ with copper sulphate solutions to enhance their colour."
Police found coouterfeit alcohol in Greece and the UK>
30 tons of illegal beef and buffalo meat unfit for human consumption and bound for supermarkets was found in Thailand
"In Australia, testing of 450 kg of honey revealed it had been blended or adulterated, and a consignment of peanuts had been repackaged and relabelled as pine nuts."
"In Indonesia, officials seized 70 kg of chicken intestines which had been preserved in formalin, which is prohibited as a food additive. "
"First launched in 2011, the Opson operations have grown from involving just 10 countries across Europe, to involving nearly 60 countries in every region of the world and resulting in the seizure of tens of thousands of tonnes of fake and substandard food and drink."