Contaminated animal feed: Ukrainian supplier’s certificate withdrawn

German control authorities commented that it was principally the EU Commission that had not carried out its obligations in this case. The EU Commission authorises the control organizations operating in third countries that (as in the case of ETKO) certify the local companies and issue a control certificate for all imports into the EU. It is the task of the Commission to support the work of these control agencies and to ensure that they fulfil their duty correctly. One head of a control authority had this to say: “When it was clear in December that UFC had sent a consignment of contaminated sunflower cake to the EU, the EU Commission should have demanded that ETKO suspended the trader and produced all the control certificates.” Then all member states would have known there were imports from UFC in their country and they could have dealt with them. But to this very day that has not happened. “All we can do is have a stab at it and send control agencies to possible recipients of the imported consignments. That’s hardly an effective way of doing things.”

Joao Onofre has a different opinion

Joao Onofre, head of the organic agriculture department in the EU Commission, doesn’t see it like that. He says that, immediately after the Netherlands entered the incident in the organic fraud database OFIS on 7 January, they asked ETKO to investigate the case. ETKO then carried out a further inspection in Ukraine on 21 and 22 January and had replied to the Commission on 2 February. After further similar activities that contravened the rules were reported in January and at the beginning of February, the Commission asked ETKO for further information on 18 February and instructed the control agency “to take precisely defined, more aggressive control measures.” He added that at the same time they had informed the International Organic Accreditation Services (IOAS), the body responsible for the accreditation of control organizations. Its auditors inspected ETKO from 10 to 13 March.
Joao Onofre also writes that ETKO certifies the majority of organic products that are sent by Ukraine to the EU and that the agency involves itself in all reported incidents in violation of the regulations. As soon as all the relevant information has been analysed, the Commission will investigate whether ETKO meets the standards required of an acknowledged control organization and reach the necessary conclusions.

The crucial question for control organizations and control authorities in all EU member states now is what happens regarding the consignments of sunflower cake, wheat, peas, maize, rapeseed cake and other products that were sold to the EU and Germany by the two suspended firms between September 2014 and 16 March 2015. The correct answer: in September, UFC shipped the 3, 600 tonnes of obviously (and presumably intentionally) fraudulently declared sunflower cake. This behaviour has been punished by rescinding the perpetrators’ certificates, but it leads us at least to suspect that later consignments from the two firms could also have been fraudulently declared. For this reason, the control authorities and the control agencies must demand that relevant firms do not use the goods supplied by these two firms because of our suspicions and only release them for use when they have been proved beyond doubt to be genuine organic goods. With relevant customers like large-scale mills and cereal/animal feed importers, the control organizations should be proactive and quickly have a look at their books. And the EU Commission ought at long last to get from ETKO complete lists of what has been supplied to whom and make them available to the member states.

The authorities know there was a UFC consignment sent to Germany. Since January, 1,700 tonnes of wheat have been stored in a North-German silo. The responsible federal authority is currently discussing its organic status with the Dutch trader and his German client.

Comment: where on earth is the Bio-FBI??

The EU urgently needs a well equipped, skilled task force to take charge of cases like this of dubious imports from third countries. Not at the snail’s pace of the authorities but with a flashing blue light. Because it’s obvious scams like this that do lasting damage to the organic image and consumer confidence. Racketeering has to be dealt with efficiently and rapidly, and controllers with seemingly slipshod working practices should be removed (that’s what I understand Mr Onofre to be saying). If there’s anything that should find its way into a new EU Organic Regulation, it’s got to be this kind of task force.