Olive oil, coconut water, juices, nectars and fruit drinks top list of most fraudulent plant-based products
Olive oil, coconut water, juices, nectars and fruit drinks are among the products of plant origin in which fraud is most present on the national market. Alongside them appear wines, vinegars, rice, beans and coffee, which in September this year made headlines when the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) announced the national recall of eight batches of coffee from different brands , after having found foreign bodies and impurities exceeding the limits permitted by current legislation.
Shortly before, in July, a MAPA task force had mobilized federal agricultural tax auditors in the states of Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Goiás and the Federal District and led to the seizure of over 20,312 kg of roasted and ground coffee, as well as 16,090 kg of irregular raw material, composed of coffee with peels and sticks. More than 26 brands with signs of irregularities were identified in the action.
According to the ministry, illicit practices have already been found in 65 establishments across the country this year. The data also shows that 150 thousand liters of drinks (juices, wine, vinegar and coconut water) and 400 thousand kg of vegetable products (rice, olive oil, roasted/ground coffee and beans) were seized. they are the qualitative discrepancy of the product between what is declared on the label and what is offered; the suppression or replacement of the original raw material with another of lesser value; and misleading labeling.
What are frauds like?
Kleber Basso, head of the Mapa Regional Service for Advanced Inspections and Combating Fraud – Serfic, details the main frauds detected during inspections across the country and how consumers could be deceived.
“Replacing olive oil with lower value vegetable oils; improper dilution of juice or its replacement with unauthorized ingredients such as water, sugar and additives that mask adulteration; presence of impurities and foreign bodies exceeding the maximum limit allowed in the Coffee; use of food additives, colorings and preservatives not declared on the label; presence of grains with defects (mouldy, burnt, germinated, worm-eaten, broken) in quantities exceeding the established maximum limit”.
Kleber notes that one way consumers may become suspicious of a fraudulent product is by price.
“An excessively attractive price, different from the others, for example, may indicate that it is an irregular product. It is important to be aware of this, since a fraudulent product can cause harm to your health, because we do not know how it was produced, nor the quality and origin of the raw materials and ingredients used. In the case of olive oil, for example, it may contain a mixture of recycled or reused oil and without any proven traceability. As federal agricultural tax auditors, our mission is to ensure safety and not allow the consumer to be misled,” she warned.
Again according to Basso, all of the operations fall under the responsibility of the Department of Inspection of Products of Plant Origin of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock – with the execution carried out by the Inspection Services of the Federal Superintendencies of Agriculture.
“Our intention is to evaluate all stages involved in the manufacturing process of these products in the country, with the aim of ensuring the health and safety of consumers. Imported products are also controlled by MAPA and must respect Brazilian identity and quality standards,” he concluded.
Janus Pablo, president of the Union of Federal Agricultural Tax Auditors, observes the developments on the topic and reiterates the importance of the work of federal agricultural tax auditors in the path from the production of products to the final consumer.
“We have a multitude of products that are continuously subject to checks and require quality assurance from Affas. When the product leaves the field, auditors inspect the agro-industries to ensure that the raw material transformed into food complies with specific regulations. If the product is exported, agricultural auditors also certify it for more than 200 countries,” she explained.
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Source: Terra
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