64 | October• 2018
THE FOOD DETECTIVES
theOPSONoperationlastyearfrom
Europol’simposingheadquartersin
he Hague. “Every sector is touched.”
In Portugal, a surveillance oper-
ation by the country’s food safety
authority revealed that a food-pro-
cessingfactoryinPorto,whichhad
been stripped of its licence, was still
operating.
“When investigators went in, they
found unhygienic vats of sardines and
otherish that were unit for human
consumption. There were 300,000
cans and 24,000 labels with fake bar-
codes and consumption dates show-
ing the fish was destined for exportthroughout Europe,” says Vansteenk-
iste. “he conditions were disgusting.
he smell was unimaginable – no con-
cern for human safety at all.”
In Italy, the anti-Maia unit moved
inonaremotefarmintheTuscan
countryside. Inside the farm build-
ings,carabinieri(police) found cases
of vintage wines from Italy’s premier
vineyards. he bottles looked genu-
ine,asdidthecorksandthelabels,
butlabtestsrevealedtheycontained
low-quality wine to which pure alco-
hol had been added to swell volume
and proits.products to secure maximum proit,”
says detective Chris Vansteenkiste.
This square-jawed, 54-year-old
BelgianleadstheIntellectualProp-
ertyCrimeUnitofEuropol(theEU
Agency for Law Enforcement Cooper-
ation),whichcoordinatesindividual
national anti-food fraud operations.
“Sometimes criminals falsify
country-of-origin documentation,
orinaccuratelyclaimthatproducts
are organic,” he says. “They apply
fakebarcodesandsell-bydateson
sub-standard food that is unfit for
human consumption. By and large,
consumers trust what they eat and,
whetherit’sish,eggs,herbsorice
cream,thefakepackagingiscon-
vincingenoughtopartthemwith
their cash.”
But the ightback is on. Since 2011,
Europol and its international coun-
terpartInterpolhaveledanannual
global operation to combat food
crime. Called Operation OPSON,
it began small with ten countries
participating. By 2017, OPSON had
growntoinclude65nations.
“Everything that can be produced
can be counterfeited,” says Chris
Vansteenkiste, who coordinated
FOOD FRAUDIS BOOMING WORLDWIDE.
IT IS ASPROFITABLE AS DRUG RUNNING
AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING