In a post - industrial society , criminal syndicate have turned to counterfeiting high - closing solid food –olive oil color , wine-colored , and cheese– to ramp up on their trifecta of drugs , sex activity , and extortion . No , this is not the dystopian prologue of a Philip K. Dick novel – it ’s the reality of life in 2016 . And the latest report from Interpol details stagger records of fraudulent solid food .
" People are at serious risk and in some eccentric dying because of the greed of outlaw whose sole concern is to make money . "
In a statement release Wednesday , the International Criminal Police Organization detailed a joint procedure with Europol that confiscated2,500 tons of counterfeit food and drink in December 2014 and January 2015 . The police twinge raided markets , port of incoming , and industrial estates , and , among the bastard good , investigators cop " mozzarella , hemangioma simplex , ball , manipulate oil color and dry fruit , " along with seafood , liquor , beer , sugar , butter , and other food whose veracity most consumers would never turn over questioning .
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Among the highlight ( or lowlights , depending on your thoughts on food law-breaking ) , agents confiscated31 tons of frigid seafood that had been sprayed with a mixture of citric back breaker , orthophosphate and hydrogen hydrogen peroxide , which was then sold as being freshly caught in Italy;35 tons of phony butterin Egypt ; anddietary supplements sent by mailthat were seize at Los Angeles International Airport for hold back " outlaw substances . "
“ Fake and sub - standard nutrient and drink pose a real threat to health and safety , " say Michael Ellis , head of INTERPOL ’s Trafficking in Illicit Goods and Counterfeiting whole . " People are at serious jeopardy and in some instance dying because of the rapacity of criminal whose sole concern is to make money . "
Counterfeit hard liquor proved an alarmingly popular way for these syndicate to evade unsuspecting consumers , too . Almost 73,000 congius ( 275,000 liters ) of drinks were confiscated worldwide , of which imitative alcohol was the most democratic . In the UK , police raid a plant with 20,000 empty bottle , set to be filled with imitation , brand - name vodka , along with one C of empty five - cubic decimeter antifreeze bottles used to make the swill liquor and " a reverse osmosis unit used to bump off the chemical substance ’s people of colour and olfaction . " TL;DR ; think twice about drinking trade name - name vodka in the UK . Stick to the room - temperature beer .
hard drink stings also turned up 5,300 gallons ( 20,000 l ) of phoney hooch and a maffia group producing imitation whiskey in Thailand ; more imitation whiskey in Uganda ; and a shop selling topically brewed beer in re - used , actual bottles to dupe customers into recollect they were drinking name - firebrand brewage .
plainly , a plenty of these plaza seem out of sight , out of idea – but it was only in February that report card surfaced ofa major American producer of Parmesan cheesegot pinched by the FDA for selling adulterated high mallow product . That ’s evidently an entirely unlike level of duping consumer , but it goes to show : the phony food epidemic touches people across the Earth . And for the Italian mafia alone , it amount to a$16 - billion - a - year business .
Operation Opson IV , ( which could n’t sound more European in line of descent ) , not only resulted in arrest and confiscations , but also furthered Interpol ’s efforts to " interrupt the unionized offence networks behind the trafficking in fake good " and to educate consumer worldwide as part of its Turn Back Crime world sentience hunting expedition that aim to " aid the public in protect themselves from potentially life - threatening products such as fake or sub - received food and drink . "
This does n’t mean you need to live in fear that everything you buy at the grocer and hard liquor store might kill you . But it does intend nobody can say with 100 % certainty that everything you buy is good .
That ’s enough to make you desire to drink phony , brand - name vodka and call it a day .
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