Diederik Schrijvershof and Judith Jansen are assisting a chicken meat trader in an investigation by the Intelligence and Investigation Service of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA-IOD).
The NVWA-IOD suspects the company of collaborating with another company in fraud involving official bills of lading when exporting chicken meat. In particular, the NVWA-IOD suspects that the companies changed frozen chicken meat on paper into other products, such as beef, allegedly with a view to the recipient of the meat paying less import taxes in the country of destination. The NVWA searched business premises and a private residence as part of the investigation.
The NVWA believes that the alleged fraud poses food safety risks. It also believes this constitutes unfair competition. By falsifying documents, the Dutch companies are doing their customers abroad a favour. As a result, those companies may be able to export more than companies that comply with the rules. It also allows the companies involved to offer products abroad cheaper than their competitors.
In a horse meat fraud case, the court classified the fraud as forgery under Article 225 of the Dutch Criminal Code. Such an offence is punishable by a prison sentence of up to 6 years or a fine of €82,000.
Ten tips in the event of a dawn raid or an NVWA raid can be found in this blog. Ten tips in the event of a dawn raid or a raid by the Netherlands Controlling Authority for Dairy and Eggs (COKZ) can be found in this blog. Practical tips on food recalls are provided in this blog.
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