The Guardia Civil has arrested four people, two men and two women, believed responsible for several crimes linked to the irregular marketing of canned tuna from a company based in La Rioja.
During the investigation in which Europol and the Italian Carabinieri have collaborated, some 120,000 tins of tuna and 45,000 litres of oil have been seized. Most of the items seized were destined to supply small businesses and large food chains in Spain and Italy imminently, mainly during the Christmas holidays.
In the search carried out at one of the company’s headquarters, the agents found a clandestine work area lacking the minimum hygiene measures, two large containers with hot water, containing numerous jars of tuna returned by the buyers.
In this place and without sanitary conditions for handling food, the labels were removed from the jars for later reintroduction into the market with a new label, health registration and expiration date, with the consequent damage to public health and the final consumer clear. In addition, it could be observed that water from the container had been introduced into some of these manipulated cans, presenting rust marks on their lids.
Another of the locations had a store for direct sale of its products to the public, and the same canned tuna was labelled only in Italian, a fact that goes against current regulations, since any product that is marketed in Spain must express themselves, at least, in Spanish.
The investigation estimates that the activity of this criminal network lasts several years, using raw materials of a price and quality significantly lower than those indicated on their labelling, thereby managing to reduce production costs and exponentially increase their profits to the detriment of consumers, seriously harming the rest of the companies in the sector that operate within the law.
Operation “Matsu”, as it was called, began at the end of August of this year after an initial complaint, which deduced the various irregularities that a company based in La Rioja Baja was carrying out, dedicated to the production and marketing of food products, mainly preserved vegetables and fish for distribution in Spain and other foreign countries, especially Italy.
During the investigation, a total of 40 analyses were carried out on the canned tuna offered for sale by the company in Spain and Italy, certifying the Research and Quality Control Centre -CICC- and two other independent laboratories that 33 of the 40 analysed samples that were labelled “olive oil”, their content was sunflower or pomace oil. In another sample the tuna turned out to be of lower quality than described.
Once all the evidence of criminality had been collected, the corresponding entry and search warrants were requested from the judicial authority at the company headquarters and at a home.
A total of 120,000 tins of canned tuna and 45,000 litres of oil were subsequently seized and sealed, while samples of canned goods, tuna pieces, oils and water were taken for analysis, as well as hard drives, mobile phones, a server. and abundant documentation for study.
The agents have also blocked a total of 21 bank accounts, in addition to pointing out the prohibition of the sale of two high-end passenger cars, a van and a refrigerated truck owned by the affected company.
The detainees, two men and two women, aged between 28 and 64, are being investigated for crimes of belonging to a criminal organisation, against public health and fraud. All under the instructions of Court No. 2 of Calahorra -La Rioja-.
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