Expired or revoked pesticides on sale in a Cerignola farm.
This is what was discovered by the forestry carabinieri of Foggia, in a joint activity with the units of Cerignola and Ascoli Satriano, the inspectors of ICQRF Puglia and Basilicata and the Sian ASL service of Foggia. The activity brought to light a turnover of over 220 thousand euros: this would in fact be the value of the goods seized from a company in the Cerignola countryside, dedicated to the sale of pesticides for agriculture.
In fact, within the commercial activity, the presence of a significant quantity of pesticides was found, with authorization revoked by the Ministry of Health and therefore illegal, as their use, marketing and possession is prohibited, as well as the deposit. The check also made it possible to detect that the pesticides, and not just the illegal ones, were held in unsuitable and unauthorized places by the Sian service of the competent ASL.
The military and the ASL and ICQRF inspectors immediately proceeded with the administrative seizure of the illegal pesticides which, if placed on the market, would have had a commercial value of approximately 220,000 euros. Furthermore, specific instructions have been given for bringing the premises up to standard and for the acquisition of the necessary authorizations.
The control activity of the forestry carabinieri falls within the scope of a targeted campaign of the ‘Action Plans for the prevention and repression of frauds damaging the quality of agri-food production and of crimes relating to counterfeiting, for the purposes of consumer food safety – 2024 pesticide control campaign, also aimed at ensuring the correct use of pesticides in agriculture. The activity carried out is part of the “mission” of the Forestry Carabinieri to protect the environment and combat environmental and agri-food crimes.
