The Guardia Civil, in the so-called “Sarda” operation, has arrested a man as the alleged perpetrator of a crime against public health, by producing and marketing canned food without sanitary measures. This latest arrest follows a similar operation reported earlier this week.
The investigators were aware of a possible point of production of canned food in illegal facilities in Cantabria.
The officers then intercepted 10 boxes of canned goods with 220 jars of bonito and 12 jars of anchovies, at the time when he was selling them to a canning factory.
As a result of this seizure, the Guardia Civil, together with inspectors from the Public Health Directorate, accessed the place where the detainee made the preserves, seizing another 131 boxes with some 4,100 jars of preserved tuna.
It was a place without any type of health control or health measures. In addition, it lacked a health registration or activity licence.
At that time, the person responsible for the illegal production of food was reported administratively to Law 17/2011 on Food Safety and Nutrition, and the company that collected said preserves to EC Regulation 853/2004 of specific food hygiene standards for accepting semi-preserved products from a producer lacking health registration.
The detainee sold directly to at least one canning factory and also at stalls in popular markets.
Once the samples were analysed, it was detected that the histamine limit was higher than the 77% established for this type of preserves. For this reason, an expert report was requested from the Central Environmental Operational Unit of the Guardia Civil on the repercussions for potential consumers.
The results of the expert report led to the arrest of the person responsible for the preparation of the recalled food as the alleged perpetrator of a crime against public health.
In total, the Guardia Civil has seized more than 2.5 tons of food prepared for distribution without any type of health control.
Histamine is a chemical substance that appears in different foods but in high doses can cause health problems.
Its consumption in high doses can cause rashes, hives, nausea or vomiting, or even lead to acute lung oedema, heart problems or neurological respiratory failure.
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