Food crime is an international problem
There is a new danger with our food. Criminals are selling billions of dollars of fake food to supermarkets. The food could be very dangerous. There have been a few scandals in the past few years. In Britain, horse meat was labeled as beef. British police recently found cheap peanut powder in products. This could harm or kill people with peanut allergies. In 2008, six babies died in China after they drank fake milk powder. Gangs make a lot of money from fake food. It is also safer than selling drugs for the gangs because the penalties are lower. Interpol told the BBC that food crime is very similar to drugs crime. A spokesman said the patterns used by criminals to sell fake food are very similar to those used by drug dealers. Police in 33 countries found that food crime is a serious global problem. They found the dye in children's candies was a poisonous chemical. They also found 430,000 litres of fake drinks and 22 tons of cheap rice that was labeled as high-quality basmati rice. The U.K. said it was a difficult problem. It said that using technology might be the only way to beat the criminals. |