Past tomato fraud with extended expiration date – Aciclico.com

The owner of a cannery of Agro Nocerino-Sarnese has been denounced for attempted fraud in the exercise of trade. The entrepreneur, according to the carabinieri of the Department of Agribusiness Protection of Salerno, who worked in collaboration with the staff of Noah, aims to market a large batch of semi-finished tomato puree already out of date and stored in 935 barrels in metal ", a life" by affixing stickers bearing different production dates of the same batch and expiring in September 2019. As a result, 206 tons of product were seized for a value of approximately 200 000 euros, which has effectively prevented the placing on the market of goods Public health risk profiles: the contractor has been reported to the Attorney General of Nocera Inferiore (Salerno).

Counterfeit food can be of two types: forgery, adulteration or sophistication of the food. It is the creation of a food composed of different substances in quality or quantity of those which normally contribute to form it (think of substitutes) or modified by substitution, subtraction, addition of elements which compose it normally. Article. L. 283/1962 prohibits the use in the preparation or distribution for the consumption of food mixtures with substances of inferior quality or otherwise processed in order to modify the natural composition: the alterations and the changes in food composition.

Falsification of the mark or indication of the geographical origin or the designation of origin. This is the setting up of false data on the food or its packaging, or the misleading reproduction of the patent according to which the food itself is produced. This type of counterfeiting is more widespread abroad and has led to the development of the Italian imitation Sounding market, a phenomenon consisting in the use of labels or other symbols or colors or figures on packaging evoking the Italian character of the origin of the product. the raw material, recipe, brand or process of processing products actually manufactured abroad. The products bear the names of brands that sound Italian, but in reality they were manufactured abroad. The countries that "falsify" the most are the United States, Latin America and Australia. The value of Italian food exports of origin in 2011 was about 23 billion euros (plus 10%). Italian food counterfeit erodes the business turnover of exporting companies by around 6 billion euros each year, with a 25% share of the sector's compressive exports at the end of 2011 (23%). billion euros). The counterfeit activity of Italian food products, badociated with the Italian phenomenon Sounding, has an estimated global turnover of about 60 billion euros, which corresponds to just under half of the turnover of the original products .

To obtain these names, a product must conform to a specification. An appellation of origin or a geographical indication is registered following a complex procedural procedure providing for the submission of an application by an badociation to the competent bodies of the State in which the geographical area concerned is located. The State must consider that all the conditions required by the regulations are fulfilled and, in this case, communicate the application and all documents related to the European Commission; this in turn verifies the existence of the requirements and, if so, moves to registration by publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Legislative Decree 297/2004 already provided for administrative pecuniary sanctions for acts of counterfeiting and usurpation of regularly registered PDOs or PGIs, the use of false or misleading indications as to the origin, nature and essential qualities of food products, for example. producers: the proposed administrative penalty was EUR 50 000.

The subsequent law 99/2009, in art. 15 made amendments to Articles 473, 474 and 517 CC and introduced new Articles 474-bis, 474-ter, 474-quater, 517-ter, 517-quater and 517-quinquies: the new art especially . 517-quater provides counterfeit infringement of geographical indications or designations of origin of food products, punishable by imprisonment for up to 2 years and d & # 39; A fine of up to 20,000 euros. The main infringements found in the case of PDO / PGI food products concerned the misuse of the protected name to designate generic products, irregularities in the labeling system, the use of unauthorized additives (cheese) or mixture of DOP oils with seed oil.

Damage caused by counterfeit food Counterfeit food generates economic harm to consumers, businesses, the state, but also to public health because foods containing harmful substances can to be distributed. Indeed, in case of fraud on the origin and the origin of a foodstuff, this one may not be necessarily toxic, whereas in case of fraud on the quality of the foodstuff and counterfeit substances that contribute to its formation, the consumer is found to potentially harmful substances. The counterfeit food product: ■ is manufactured without respecting the standards of safety, quality and efficiency; ■ may use correct ingredients, but of unknown origin; ■ Some important ingredients may be missing or may be replaced by cheaper ingredients. Counterfeit food can be very harmful to your health. A counterfeit product is of inferior quality and costs at least one third of the original. For example, some producers made bison mozzarella from Bolivia's milk powder, regenerated and corrected with whey and Caserta milk. In fact, Bolivian milk costs 50 cents / kg. The distribution of counterfeit products mainly takes place in two ways: the clandestine circuit and the usual commercial circuit. ■ Clandestine circuit: it is organized, by definition, outside the regular market, that is to say on the street, on public markets, by correspondence. on the Internet. ■ Commercial circuit: This is the market for the sale of original products, in which counterfeit products are often placed next to genuine products. In this channel, the risks for consumers are greater, because the fact that they are official sales channels represents for them an index of reliability of the originality of the product. Through this channel are sold mainly products bearing counterfeit trademarks or signs (Italian Sounding). The law prohibits the adulteration or the corruption of the water or substances intended to be used by making them dangerous for the public health and for the counterfeit, in a way dangerous to the public health, of food intended for the sale. This crime is provided by art. 440 CP and is punishable by: ■ imprisonment for three to ten years; the following additional sanctions: ■ publication of the sentence of conviction in one or more national newspapers; ■ prohibition to exercise from five to ten years of the profession, industry, trade or profession in which the crime was committed, that is to say, the prohibition to practice that profession, industry, trade or profession. These behaviors (adulteration or corruption of substances) are punished as counterfeit food to the detriment of public health, if they are committed before the distribution of food for consumption; once on the market, the prosecution of crimes against the person, such as injuries and homicides, also take place. Since the term "foodstuff" refers to substances that are directly edible or likely to become so through the processes of preparation (cooking, maturing, preservation, etc.), feed for human consumption is also intended to be used as animal feed. once shot.

Italian cuisine and foods represent a food model in the world, the expression of a culture that improves the quality and safety of food and their connection to the country of origin. Fraudulent activities in the food sector not only pose a health risk, but also damage our cultural identity and our image abroad. Fraudulent behavior is part of history and has always affected the food sector, where fraud may be of a commercial and health nature. After clarifying that food fraud occurs in the production and marketing of products that do not comply with the regulations in force, commercial fraud (Article 515 Penal Code) causes economic harm to consumers, who unwittingly acquire valuable food less than true, Health fraud (Articles 439, 440-442 and 444 of the Penal Code) poses a threat to health because marketed foods may contain degradation products, exogenous chemicals or contaminants potentially harmful microbials.

In most cases, it is difficult to draw a clear boundary between the two types of fraud, as they are often coexistent and generally determined by the producer's illicit purpose of reducing production costs and increasing their profit margin. The phenomenon of food fraud is extremely important and growing, so the Ministry of Health has developed an integrated national plan to guide official controls on food safety and enforcement. along the production line. providing for the publication of an annual report on control activities concerning food and beverages, the environment, animal feed, plant and plant health and well-being, established by all the administrations responsible for different sectors.

In commercial fraud, there is no deterioration in the quality of the food that renders it harmful, but an illicit profit is made to the detriment of the consumer. To set up a fraud on the market, it is enough to make the difference on the origin of the product or on the origin, on the system of preparation or on the quantity, as happens for example if the tare n & n Is not removed from the weight of what is sold. In so-called sanitary frauds, depending on the particular case of fraud, one can speak of falsification when the food is modified, substituting its own elements for other unknowns (for example, by mixing seed oil with olive oil); However, the sophistication consists in adding to the food foreign substances, in order to improve its appearance or to cover up its defects and to simulate its authenticity, as happens with the addition of dyes or dyes. Bleaching agents (titanium dioxide, peroxide). benzoil) with mozzarella to make it whiter; counterfeiting is to replace the food with another less valuable one, with similar characteristics (eg the exchange of a ham PDO with a non-AOP ham, falsifying the seal); finally, by alteration, we mean the modification of the chemical and organoleptic characteristics of a food, due for example to degenerative processes due to incorrect storage methods, as happens when the expiry date is changed on a label or that moldy products are rehabilitated. or damaged, putting them on sale as a fee. Finally there are falsifications, whereby one product is even replaced by another, as in the clbadic example of margarine instead of butter. The offense of fraud occurs when the product is put on the market or distributed, even if it has not been sold yet.

The most frequently counterfeited products are cheeses and wines, but red meats are often subjected to color stabilization processes thanks to antimicrobial, anti-enzymatic and anti-oxidant preservatives (niacin, ascorbates, sulphites, nitrites, carbon monoxide, etc.). they oppose the phenomena of oxidation by hemoglobin. Some of these substances, used in the food industry, but may be added in amounts that exceed the legal limits, can cause hypersensitivity or mask signs of microbial growth. Another particularly perishable food, fish, is subject to preservation processes, such as freezing, in order to extend its commercial life. The thawing process, however, determines the partial loss of certain nutrients and alters the organoleptic characteristics, which are inferior to the fresh product, so that food fraud occurs by selling the frozen fish in the fresh state. In view of all the above, it is clear that competent authorities must constantly monitor the situation, both when food is marketed and when it is actually sold, in order to safeguard economic and health interests. consumers. European legislation on safety in the food supply chain, which provides for the "traceability" of food, the dissemination of information, the intensification of inspections and sanctions procedures, is an essential tool. for the protection of citizens. The consumer, however, can pay attention to buying products at the right price, with clear and complete information labels, preferring those whose authenticity is attested by the quality labels provided by the company. 39 European Union (DOP, PGI, TSG). and bio), taking care to check the expiry dates, to ensure that the packaging and packaging are intact and that the places of sale have the characteristics of cleanliness and sanitation.

Food fraud they are a social scourge, the fruit of human selfishness, and can be enriched to the detriment of others. This heinous crime strikes deceptively the weaker categories of consumers and must therefore be fought with determination and courage by all local and national control bodies. Food scares are as old as the world, Pliny the Elder (Dec 23-79) has described in his works the sophistication of flours with less valuable grains, as well as spices. In the Middle Ages, the most common fraud was to use for the production of bread flour mixed with moldy grains. With the pbadage of time and advances in technology, this crime has increased enormously, especially in times of economic crisis and conflict. In Italy, on the other hand, the phenomenon of food fraud reached its peak in the period of the "economic boom" between the 1950s and 1960s; period that allowed Italy to enter the club of the world's most industrialized countries. An improvement in the standard of living of Italians which also caused new eating habits among Italians, before the 50s. In fact, half of the income of a family was used for food expenses.

In the past, the average Italian diet consisted of simple meals, the consumption of meat and confectionery being confined to exceptional events such as festivals and weddings, only the rich could afford to consume meat and other dishes delicate ones that also became the symbol of opulence and its social status. During the first post-war period, the agri-food industry, through the application of new machinery and American know-how, succeeded in producing new products with high consumption and low cost, a multitude of products such as baby snacks, chips, crackers, margarine, drinks and ice cream, canned meat, bouillon cubes, etc. . Chemistry has contributed a lot to the food industry, for example monosodium glutamate has been used in a mbadive way as a flavor enhancer, adding other flavors to enhance the taste and make the meat and vegetables shoddy appetizing, or the use of dyes to cover the dull color of certain foods or the use of sulphites to give the meat a beautiful red color also to lengthen the shelf life. The use of industrial chemical processes such as "esterification" allowed to obtain oil from glycerin and fatty acids.

In order to meet consumers' exponential meat requirements, animals receive hormones and antibiotics to allow them to grow faster and faster. Radio and television played a decisive role in changing the power of Italians. remember the "carousel" that allowed to enter each family and announce these new products, as well as the use of the first refrigerators allowed to keep fresh food for several days. The growth in demand, however, has occurred without respect for hygienic and sanitary requirements. The first journalistic investigation that highlighted the widespread phenomenon of food fraud was that of the weekly L'Espresso. The article quotes the surveys of the first consumer badociations who denounced olive oil produced with bone remnants of slaughterhouses (including donkeys) to which subdues were added. hydrocarbon products, through an esterification process. The espresso complaint caused a sensation in the public opinion of the time and highlighted, for the first time, the problem of fraud in the food sector.1 These frauds have shown the weakness of public control in Italy due to the lack of appropriate legislation at the time and dating back to the early twentieth century. Provincial hygiene and prophylaxis laboratories did not have badytical methods to discover new food fraud; moreover, the inspection staff employed in the field of supervision, namely municipal and provincial health officers, was numerically deficient throughout the country and had only a thousand people.

As a result of this scandal, the Minister of Health, the Hon. Luigi Mariotti has decided to intensify controls and sampling of food products, giving new impetus to controls. In order to reinforce the controls on October 15, 1962, the anti-skills and health units of the carabineers were created. The fruits did not take long to appear: during the four years 1959-1963, the provincial laboratories of hygiene and prophylaxis examined 2 million samples of food substances, most of which were taken from the provincial police. The annual average was about 424,000 samples, of which 11% with adverse judgments. The data demonstrate the outstanding work and commitment of the health police in the fight against food fraud in the 1960s. For the work conducted in the fight against food fraud, the category of police of health was awarded in 1966 by the President of the Republic, Hon. Giuseppe Saragat of the gold medal of merit of health. A further decisive step was taken with the adoption of Law No. 283 of 1962 "Hygiene Regulations for the Production and Sale of Food and Drink Products". Its application has contributed to improving the sanitary and hygienic situation of food production and is still considered as a basis of the food legislation, although it is partly overtaken by the new EU regulation.

However, despite the importance of this legislation, recognized at the European level as one of the best, it took twenty years for its implementing regulation to be published: Presidential Decree No. 327/1980. The reasons for this delay were almost exclusively of a political and economic nature, as this law imposed a number of technical and structural obligations on food businesses. Until 1978, in Italy, food surveillance was carried out by provincial and municipal doctors and veterinarians, who, badisted by health survivors, reported directly to the Ministry of Health. With the establishment of the national health system by law no. 833/78, the above-mentioned bodies are dismantled, while the functions and personnel are transferred to the local health authorities, which depend on the local authorities. This created major organizational challenges for the new prevention units of the local health units, which had to deal with all areas of prevention (environmental medicine, occupational health, veterinary medicine, public health and food) with few resources available. lack of regulatory compliance and political context. which influenced the activities, as an important component of the management committees. In spite of these difficulties, the supervisory staff made numerous interventions in the early 1980s, but the organizational imperatives of the services led to a relaxation of controls and a recrudescence of fraud. But another scandal awoke the country: in 1986, some wineries used methanol as a fraudulent method to increase the alcohol content of poor quality wines, causing the death of 19 people and blindness of 15 others.

The scandal has shown the limited effectiveness of official controls over food compared to the new configuration of USL inspection services. The data speak for themselves: from the 450,000 inspections carried out in 1979 by the offices of the provincial doctors to the approximately 80,000 carried out between 1980 and 1985 by the national USLs). The scandal shocked the nation, the politicians of the time bore the responsibility of the then Minister of Health, Constant Degan, for the omitted checks. This second emergency in the food sector has led to the adoption of certain regulations aimed at combating food fraud; in particular the decree-law of June 18, 1986, n. 282, converted into law of August 7, 1986, n. 462, regarding urgent measures for the prevention and suppression of food sophistication, in addition to a series of control measures to protect public health strengthening existing legislation, establishes the Ministry of Health "the list public enterprises commercial companies and producers who have been sentenced to a final judgment of res judicata for fraud and refinement of food products ". As in the 1960s, as a result of the public outcry, public opinion and politicians became more aware of food security issues. As a result, local inspection services (USL) have been better reorganized and the riot police 's antisocis- tation units have been strengthened throughout the country. At the present time, thanks to the implementation of the new European food safety legislation, the competent authorities (Ministry of Health, Regions and local health authorities) are determined to fight more effective against local and national food fraud, but in the meantime sophistications have become more insidious. and difficult to detect, while the industry of forgery and piracy increases to the detriment of our typical products. In the end, the frauds of the 60s and 70s are the result of a partially skewed progress that fits into the framework of radical changes in society and customs. To all of this, the institutions were able to react, but only with delay and, as is unfortunately often the case in our country, only following the scandal.