PESARO No batch of milk, dairy products or “sophisticated” derivatives, or those subjected to treatment to prevent acidification and stop the deterioration of their state of conservation, has reached or been placed in supermarkets or large-scale retail chains, thus reaching consumers.
The background
This is what emerges from the investigation by the Pesaro Prosecutor’s Office which led to a series of searches by the NAS and ICQRF inspectors which led to the seizure of approximately 90 tonnes of milk and 110 tonnes of dairy products, as well to 2.5 tons of adulterated substances, for a total value of just under 800 thousand euros.
An operation which in the Pesaro area was concentrated in the Colli al Metauro dairy “Fattorie Marchigiana”, a company controlled by the Trevalli Cooperlat group and which serves large-scale distribution. And it is Cooperlat itself which specifies in a note that «the checks on the products placed on the market have not highlighted any anomalies».
The clarification
A clarification to dispel the apprehension among consumers who usually use the products distributed by “Fattorie Marchigiane”. The investigation into suspected food fraud has so far involved around ten people following searches in three facilities. Cooperlat itself specifies «that the other two structures visited as part of the Nas/Icqrf inspection are a dairy products warehouse, located in Loria, in the province of Treviso, where the inspectors were able to ascertain the perfect state of the environments in terms of hygienic-sanitary and the equally perfect conservation and integrity of the products that were found, as well as the agricultural company of a contributing partner, located in the Alta Valmarecchia, in the province of Rimini, in which samples of raw material were carried out for the related analyses”. The investigation concerns the use of substances, such as hydrogen peroxide or caustic soda, the use of which would block the poor state of conservation of dairy products. Adulterants would stop the acidification process of milk and derivatives by intervening on bacterial loads.
In detail
However, at the moment there would be no batches of “sophisticated” products in supermarkets. The raid began on Monday. The operation employed a total of over 60 judicial police officers, including NAS carabinieri and inspectors from the Central Inspectorate for Quality Control and Fraud Repression of Agri-Food Products of the Ministry of Agriculture.
