According to Foodwatch, one in eight organic products tested in France "is not as organic as it claims".

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GILE MICHEL / SIPA

“Everyone is potentially affected”.

Food fraud "is on the increase" in Europe and France, warns the NGO Foodwatch, which is launching a campaign this Thursday in France to obtain more "transparency" from the French authorities.

According to her, "the subject remains taboo in France".

“At best, we only have access to very general information on the conclusions of certain investigations carried out by the fraud control (DGCCRF) or the General Directorate for Food (DGAL).

But the name of the brands concerned by fraud, that of the products, manufacturers, quantities and places of sale for example, are most of the time kept secret, ”she regrets.

🔴 Eat #DuFauxPourDeVrai: after several years of investigation, we are breaking the taboo of #food fraud and demanding more transparency from the authorities.


Sign & share the petition addressed to @Economie_Gouv & @Agri_Gouv!


✍https: //t.co/OVM8BIsrOQ


Thread 👇 pic.twitter.com/MXpeLpjnKo

- foodwatch France (@foodwatch_fr) March 25, 2021

Rotten tuna, fake olive oil ...

For its campaign, which is accompanied by a petition, the organization relies on a book entitled

Manger du faux pour de nouvelle

 (Editions Robert Laffont), the result of an investigation into food fraud in Europe led by Ingrid Kragl , in charge of investigations for Foodwatch.

In 400 pages, she recounts the food scandals of recent years in Europe: horse meat sold as beef, sunflower oil suddenly become olive oil, much more expensive, thanks to the addition of chlorophyll , spoiled tuna injected with dangerous additives to give it the appearance of being fresh and which caused food poisoning ...

It also evokes Languedoc wines that have become pomerol or margaux, falsely organic products, those which arrogate to themselves a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) without being able to claim it or even heavily chemically sweetened honey.

One in eight organic products controlled in France "is not as organic as it claims"

According to the survey carried out, one organic product in eight controlled in France "is not as organic as it claims", and this figure "even goes up to one organic product in three" in the Alps. Maritimes, assures the association.

According to Ingrid Kragl, the pandemic would have greatly benefited fraudsters, the attention of the authorities having mainly turned to fake Covid-19 products (masks, gels, food supplements, etc.).

"Selling counterfeit, contaminated, illegal food, protected designations of origin that are not, imitations of great wines or fake pesticides has become a very profitable business and it has increased with the health crisis" , she explains to the

Parisian.

The losses linked to these frauds estimated at “30 billion euros each year” in Europe

With this survey, "I wanted to create an electric shock," adds Ingrid Kragl.

“Nothing justifies the current opacity.

It is above all a political choice, today in your hands ”, wrote the organization Foodwatch in a letter, made public, addressed to the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire and to that of the Agriculture Julien Denormandie.

According to the European Commission, the losses for the industry linked to these food frauds are estimated at “around 30 billion euros each year” in Europe, recalls the organization born in 2002 in Germany and established in France since 2013. Foodwatch adds that "organized crime networks have understood that there is a vein to be exploited in food trafficking: little risk of getting stuck and a godsend for money laundering".

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  • Health

  • Scandal

  • Consumption

  • NGO

  • Fraud

  • Organic

  • Fruits and vegetables

  • Food