Share:
Health risks for allergy sufferers Uncovering fraud in hazelnut products
As the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) informs, a worldwide campaign against food fraud revealed that hazelnut products are frequently manipulated. For allergic persons, this can have dangerous consequences.
Nut allergies can be dangerous
Health experts repeatedly point out that food allergies should not be underestimated. Especially nut allergies are a great burden and can end in extreme cases deadly. However, it is known that sufferers do not always have to be allergic to all nuts. Therefore, it is even worse if consumers can not rely on which nuts are included in the purchased products.
A global campaign against food fraud has found that hazelnut products are often manipulated. For allergy sufferers, adding other nuts can be dangerous. (Image: HandmadePictures / fotolia.com) Profit for counterfeiters through cheaper raw materials
The fact that this can not be trusted is shown by a report from the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL)..
Thus, in a global campaign against food fraud, it has been established in several cases that hazelnut products have been manipulated by the addition of peanuts, cashews or almonds.
"Seemingly small differences in the prices of raw materials are a gain for counterfeiters, if the hazelnut product is partially replaced by a cheaper raw material," says the statement of the BVL.
Cashews, peanuts and almonds in hazelnut products
According to information, at the end of last year, over a period of six weeks, 28 producers of hazelnut products were inspected and 90 products were subject to documentary and analytical checks.
At border entry points, another 15 products were checked. The inspections included a total of 545 tonnes of goods.
According to the BVL, the investigating agencies found that 1,300 kg of roasted chopped hazelnuts from Georgia had a peanut blend of just over eight percent. With 500 kg of hazelnut paste from Italy, therefore, shares of up to 45 percent cashew kernels were detected.
And another shipment of hazelnut paste from Italy, around 27 percent almonds were determined. In view of the size of the shares determined, a deliberate addition should be assumed in all cases.
Immediate health hazard
Because in case of missing labeling of allergenic peanuts and nuts an immediate health hazard emanates from the products, the goods were withdrawn from the trade.
In addition, the information on the cases was forwarded via the European reporting systems RASFF (food safety) and AAC (food fraud).
The question of where the manipulations were carried out in detail is still open and will be pursued further. (Ad)