{"id":544068,"date":"2026-08-26T23:51:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T21:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.phytocontrol.com\/uncategorized\/food-fraud-results-of-operation-opson-xiv\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T23:51:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T21:51:37","slug":"food-fraud-results-of-operation-opson-xiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.phytocontrol.com\/en\/regulatory-watch\/food-fraud-results-of-operation-opson-xiv\/","title":{"rendered":"Food fraud: results of operation OPSON XIV"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Operation OPSON<\/strong> is organised every year. Its objective is to remove <strong>counterfeit and non-compliant<\/strong> food and beverages from the market and to dismantle the organised criminal groups behind them. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Participating services (police, customs and national food control bodies) carry out checks in shops, markets, airports and seaports to detect and seize counterfeit or non-compliant food products that could seriously harm consumer health and safety.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A fourteenth operation, <strong>OPSON XIV<\/strong>, targeting food fraud, was coordinated by EUROPOL, OLAF and DG SANTE. 31 countries took part in this operation. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The figures for this operation: <\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>259,012 packages were seized: 1,416,168 L of beverages and 11,566,958 kg of foodstuffs, including meat and seafood; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>631 people were reported to the judicial authorities; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>101 arrest warrants were issued; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>13 organised criminal groups were dismantled; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>EUR 95 million worth of goods were seized; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>31,165 checks and inspections were carried out. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the main trends identified this year is the infiltration of criminal groups into waste treatment companies. They gain access to expired food awaiting destruction and then remove the original expiry dates using solvents, before printing <strong>new, falsified dates<\/strong> on the packaging. These relabelled products are then reintroduced onto the market, posing a health risk. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the most common fraud tactics are <strong>counterfeiting of food and beverages<\/strong> and <strong>misuse of geographical indications<\/strong>. Olive oils and wines remain heavily affected by this type of fraud. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The authorities also found that meat and seafood had been sold despite <strong>poor storage or slaughtering conditions<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The list of food products and beverages removed from the market is highly varied: essential goods such as fruit, vegetables, poultry, meat, meat products and seafood, confectionery, fats and oils (particularly olive oil), as well as food supplements and additives. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the investigations carried out: <\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In Italy, 7 horse breeders and truck drivers were arrested. They were clandestinely and illegally slaughtering horses treated with pharmaceutical products. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In Portugal, an illegal slaughterhouse that did not comply with health standards was dismantled. One suspect was arrested, 33 animals were slaughtered, and 200 kg of offal was seized. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In Spain, a network involved in the illegal fishing of contaminated clams in the Tagus was dismantled. The clams were distributed to Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, generating up to \u20ac2.5 million in weekly profits. 11 arrests were made and more than 7 tonnes of clams were seized.  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In Spain, a company was mislabelling bananas from Madeira as Canary Islands bananas, which benefit from a PGI. 2,000 tonnes of bananas were sold illegally. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In Georgia, two people were arrested for smuggling alcohol, tobacco and other undeclared goods using forged customs documents. The value of the seized items exceeded \u20ac73,000. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please note that your Phytocontrol laboratory offers authentication and food physico-chemistry analyses to help identify food fraud. You can consult our COFRAC technical annex No. 1-1904, available in your customer area or on the COFRAC website. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Need technical, regulatory or pricing information? Our customer service is available from 8am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday, at <a href=\"mailto:+33%20800%20900%20775\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">+33 800 900 775<\/a> or <a href=\"mailto:service-clients@phytocontrol.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">service-clients@phytocontrol.com<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And to keep up with all the latest Phytocontrol news, join us on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/phytocontrol-waters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a> page! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Operation OPSON is organised every year. Its objective is to remove counterfeit and non-compliant food&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":28185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulatory-watch"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Food fraud: results of operation OPSON XIV - Phytocontrol<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food fraud: results of operation OPSON XIV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Operation OPSON is organised every year. 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