Safety fears raised over low-quality food and counterfeit motor parts

Date: 01/08/02

By Martin banks

PUBLIC health is being put at increased risk by counterfeiters producing potentially dangerous foods, warns the European Commission.

Officials say the days of criminal gangs concentrating on fake Rolex watches and luxury jewellery are long gone. Instead, dodgy food and car parts are just as likely to find their way onto the market, according to Alexander Wiedow, a director in the tax and customs directorate.

Latest Commission figures show that customs officers in member states seized 4,106 counterfeit foodstuffs and drinks in 2001, compared with 2,340 in the previous year.

There was also a substantial rise in seizures of fake car parts and medicines over the same period.

Wiedow said: 'There has been a distinct shift in the types of goods being produced by the forgers.

'Food products, in particular, now account for a large proportion of the counterfeit goods recovered by customs officers.

'This, of course, poses a particular risk to the public. If people don't know what a product contains, how can they be sure it is safe?'

Compact discs, a traditional favourite of the counterfeiters, accounted for 42 of all goods seized over a three-year period from 1999.

'The stakes are high and the potential profits involved are huge. One kilo of CDs, for example, is worth more to the counterfeiter than a kilo of cannabis,' said Wiedow.

The Commission is working closely with industries in a bid to stamp out the problem, he added.

Public health is being put at increased risk by counterfeiters producing potentially dangerous foods, warns the European Commission. Latest figures show that customs officers in Member States seized 4,106 counterfeit foodstuffs and drinks in 2001, compared with 2,340 in the previous year. There was also a substantial rise in seizures of fake car parts and medicines over the same period.