Nearly 10,000 litres of fake booze seized in UK in global food crime crackdown

Nearly 10,000 litres of fake booze have been confiscated in the UK as part of the biggest ever international crackdown on food fraud and crime.

The global Interpol/Europol operation – dubbed Opson V – ran across 57 countries between November 2015 and February 2016 and led to more than 10,000 tonnes and one million litres of counterfeit food and drink being found and destroyed.

In the UK, investigators confiscated about 10,000 litres of fake or adulterated alcohol, including wine, whisky and vodka.

Other key finds included 85 tonnes of olives seized in Italy that had been painted with copper sulphate to enhance their colour; sugar contaminated with fertiliser; and 450kg of honey that had been falsely labelled or adulterated.

“Fake and dangerous food and drink threaten the health and safety of people around the world who are often unsuspectingly buying these potentially very dangerous goods,” said Michael Ellis, head of Interpol’s trafficking in illicit goods unit.

“With Operation Opson V resulting in more seizures than ever before, we must continue to build on these efforts to identify the criminal networks behind this activity whose only concern is making a profit, no matter what the cost to the public.”

Chris Vansteenkiste, cluster manager of the Europol intellectual property crime team, said: “Today’s rising food prices and the global nature of the food chain offer the opportunity for criminals to sell counterfeit and substandard food in a multi-billion criminal industry which can pose serious potential health risks to unsuspecting customers. The complexity and scale of this fraud means cooperation needs to happen across borders with a multi-agency approach.

“This year again, the results from Opson clearly reflect the threat that food fraud represents, as food adulterations cut across all kinds of categories and from all regions of the world. Sharing knowledge in one market may prevent food fraud in another and ultimately helps protect public health and safety worldwide.”

Andy Morling, head of the FSA’s national food crime unit, said: ”Last year, the NFCU co-led the UK response to Operation Opson, the long running global Interpol and Europol initiative to tackle counterfeit and substandard food. The unit worked with law enforcement, academia and industry partners to raise awareness and encourage participation in Opson and in a specific UK day of action against illicit vodka. The UK seized just over 10,000 litres of alcohol much of which was for suspected duty evasion or counterfeiting.”