Almost 80 tons of tuna seized in the Belgium fraud operation

Food safety officials in Belgium seized almost 80 tons of tuna in the course of a few months in 2020. More than 90 percent of non-compliant products were imported from Asia. Between September and December 2020, the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) took 45 samples of fresh and frozen tuna from retailers and frozen tuna from wholesalers and carried out 92 types of analysis. In 2019, there were 17 samples analyzed and all were compliant. For 2020 FASFC, also known as AFSCA or FAVV, uncovered the use of carbon monoxide treatment, a technique banned for tuna in Europe. Varieties of fish fraud The objective of the operation was to detect the use and frequency of fraud techniques that are used to hide the spoilage of the fish going brown by passing it off as a fresher item that stays red. Investigators looked at different techniques such as the addition of dyes, nitrites or nitrates and carbon monoxide treatment. More than 35,000 tons of tuna was seized because of ...