Malta strongly rejects accusations of organics fraud

The Parliamentary Secretariat for Agriculture has strongly rejected claims, made during a current affairs show on Italian TV back in March, that Malta was involved in a scam involving the fraudulent labelling of conventional grain as being organic, with the purpose of being sold at a higher price in Italy, according to The Malta Independent.

The Italian Rai 3 had focused on large-scale fraud in the €200 million industry. The journalist who produced the feature claimed that in one particular case, conventional grain, soya and corn were exported from Moldova, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan to Malta. “Here (Malta) the relevant authorities certified the product as being organic when in actual fact it was grown using pesticides and weed killers. The product was then exported to Italy, where it was placed on the market”, explained the journalist

The case in question concerned a first-time trans-shipment of cereals intended for animal feed from Moldova, which were sampled by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority before being dispatched to be kept in a customs warehouse in Italy. The spokesperson said the European Commission had subsequently carried out a mission in Malta through its Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) as well as DG for Agriculture. After examining all the facts and documentation in detail, the EC issued a report which supports the view of the Maltese authorities that legislation and systems were in fact in place in conformity with EU legislation and that revisions to continue improving and upgrading these systems had been undertaken, in spite of the very small amount of producers and imports which the system needs to cater for. The EU Commission specifically did not include any comment or reference in its report as concerns shortcoming on the part of that case which involved Malta.

The spokesperson added that, since 2012, the Maltese competent authority has never been contacted by Italian investigators to provide information in the context of their investigations, although recently there has been at least one case where Italian authorities have initiated investigations based on a flagging by the Maltese authorities.