Hundreds of tonnes of fraudulent food were seized in raids across Europe in December 2011. Operation Opson targeted ports, airports and businesses in 10 countries, including the UK.
Among the products seized were 13,000 bottles of substandard olive oil, 30 tonnes of fake tomato sauce and about 77,000 kg of counterfeit cheese.
More recently, a rise in fraud has made high value products like organic and free range particularly vulnerable. In one case, an Italian gang were jailed for selling organic soya beans which were found to have been treated with pesticides.
Stuart Shotton, of Food Chain Europe, which advises food manufacturers in compliance with safety laws, says: "As long as there are premium prices to pay for certain products, there will always be people out there looking to make a fast buck."
DNA testing has been useful in confirming if a product is authentic. But experts suggest that there might always be some doubt if a product is really what it claims to be.
Quiz 測驗 1. What is making people in Britain and the Republic of Ireland suspicious of food?
Some beef products found in supermarkets were actually made of horsemeat.
2. What was done to beer and bread in the past?
Beer had extra water added in and sawdust was mixed into bread.
3. Is this statement true, false or non-applicable? Organic products can't be the object of fraud
False. It is mentioned in the text that a gang in Italy sold organic soya beans that had actually been treated with pesticides.
4. Which expression means that something was revealed?
To come to light.
5. Which expression means to sell something for a higher price?
A mark up.
Glossary 词汇表 trust信任，信賴 to come to light顯露出來 fraud欺騙 the mislabelling錯貼標簽 to water down摻水，衝淡 to adulterate（在食物中）摻入雜質，摻假 a mark up加價，抬價 deception騙局，欺詐 fraudulent欺詐的 to seize沒收 a raid突擊搜捕，搜查 substandard不合格的，劣質的 fake假的，冒充的 counterfeit假冒的 organic有機的 free range自由放養的 compliance遵守，服從 to make a fast buck（不擇手段，弄虛作假）掙快錢，快速致富 authentic真的 to claim聲稱
