October• 2018 | 65unrefinedlampanteoil,whichis
unfit for human consumption.
Ina12-monthperiod,threemajor
organised crime groups in Europe
were taken out of action and seven
more globally.Deadly Consequences
height against food fraud goes on
around the clock. Most countries in
Europe have established food crime
units similar to the Netherlands’
NVWA-IOD,whichhasbeenhunting
down criminals for 20 years. Europol
supports this by running workshops
for companies, investigators and pol-
icymakerstostrengthennetworks
across Europe and share intelligence,“hiswasahighlyprofessionalop-
eration conducted by an organised
crime group,” says Vansteenkiste.
“Wealsoseizedprintingandother
equipmentwhichtheyusedtofake
barcodes and watermarks.” Three
people were arrested and further
prosecutions are pending.
OperationOPSONrevealsthe
ubiquitous nature of food fraud:
179,000 fake seasoning cubes were
seized by French customs; unlabe-
ledmeatsmuggledinanunrefriger-
atedvanwasinterceptedinIreland;
1300kilogramsofroastedhazelnuts
werefoundtocontainallergenic
peanutsinGermany;virginolive
PHOTO: QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFASToil in Denmark was revealed to be
Forensic expertProfessorChrisElliottinfront of tonnes
of suspect sunlower seeds