In a large-scale international operation, 12.000 tons of illegal or potentially dangerous food were seized. It was already the ninth so-called operation OPSON carried out in cooperation with authorities in 83 countries worldwide, coordinated by Europol and Interpol.

The products' value is 28 million Euros. 42 % of the seized products were of animal origin. 320 tons of dairy products were confiscated because they were either illegally traded or their quality was inferior or even harmful to health. Another 210 tons of cheese had false indications of origin on the labels.

The authorities were also successful in the fight against the illegal trade of horse meat. The detailed examination of documents of no less than 157.000 horses from eight countries found that 20 % of the certificates were fake.

The operation, running from from December 2019 to June 2020, led to the dismantling of 19 organised crime groups involved in food fraud and the arrests of 406 suspects.

Learn more: https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/114931/12000-tonnes-of-fraudulent-food-seized-in-annual-opson-operation/

Read more about our project Global Food Fraud - Time for action