WRITTEN QUESTION P-2535/01

by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 September 2001)

Subject: Submission of the results of analyses concerning adulterated butter

Until mid-2000, members of the Italian mafia were involved in the large-scale adulteration of butter, adding animal and vegetable fats and chemical substances to it before marketing it through Belgian, German, French and Italian firms. It is believed that a total of 100 000 tonnes of adulterated butter was produced and that it was mainly used in bakery products. Following the discovery of the fraud, some 200 tonnes of what was left of the adulterated butter was seized in Belgium, France and Italy. The Member State concerned were called upon to carry out chemical analyses in order to clarify whether there were any risks to health.

In a letter of 17 August 2001, the German Minister for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture informed me that the results of the analyses Belgium, France and Italy had been asked to carry out had not yet been presented to the Standing Veterinary Committee and could not be inspected or evaluated by the Federal Government.

Will the Commission state why these findings have still not been submitted?

Will it say what steps it has taken, or proposes to take, in order to make the Member States concerned submit the results of the analyses?

Will it indicate the findings on which it was actually basing itself when, in the 2000 annual report on the fight against fraud(1), it wrote that, so far, the analyses conducted by the experts on the seized goods have not established any direct hazard for the consumers health'?

Will it provide the names and indicate the official positions of the experts it referred to and present copies of the results of the analyses it mentioned?

(1) COM(2001) 255, p. 25.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(22 October 2001)

We would refer the Honourable Member to the Commission's answer to her written question E-2210/01.

With regard to the submission of results of analyses of adulterated butter, the Commission would point out to the Honourable Member that these data are an integral part of investigation proceedings in France and Italy and therefore cannot be made public. The analyses undertaken by the Belgian authorities revealed that there were no polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), organochloric compounds or heavy metals present in the samples of adulterated butter stored on their territory. However, the Belgian judicial authorities, acting on a request for judicial assistance from the Italian authorities, have also made their data subject to confidentiality in the context of the investigations.

At a meeting of the Standing Veterinary Committee on 12 September 2001, the Commission reminded the Member States of the need to provide it with all available information on the results of analyses of adulterated butter as soon as their respective judicial procedures allowed this.

In its Annual Report 2000 Protection of the Communities' Financial Interests and the Fight Against Fraud(1), according to which So far, the analyses conducted by the experts on the seized goods have not established any direct hazard for the consumers' health, the Commission used a wording taken from a press release of 19 December 2000 from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). The conclusions of the national authorities available at the time were the basis for this.

The Commission would ask the Honourable Member to address any requests concerning documents relating to ongoing judicial procedures, or concerning the experts involved, to the above-mentioned national judicial authorities.

(1) COM(2001) 255 final.