Quick Take — Senatorial commission on Perrier: the Presidency of the Republic knew, at least since 2022, that Nestlé had been cheating for years

was aware that this created a distortion of competition with other mineral water producers and was aware of bacteriological and even virological contamination on some wells.

Among the many things Nestlé did to conceal the fraud: removing “the list of pesticides (herbicides, fungicides) that have been banned for some of them for 20 years, such as atrazine. No more PFAS, chlorates and other perchlorates. Above all, the table quoting the frequency of detection of E.Coli bacteria and intestinal enterococci for the period 2020-2023 is out.

Is there a solution for the food we import from countries that use pesticides banned in Europe?

The Mercosur free trade agreement could be an opportunity to try to align the rules between South America and the European Union. Trade unions, such as Coldiretti, should not dissipate their forces on meaningless projects such as the no to ‘cultured meat’ or the production of dried pasta, and focus on reciprocity of import standards

Quick Take — Europe defies Trump’s duties: illegal pesticides in the crosshairs

The EU is poised to armour its agricultural market with new import restrictions, hitting those food products made to looser standards. A move that echoes Donald Trump ‘s ‘reciprocal’ trade policy and could trigger new global tensions… Historically, the Commission has opposed requests by member states, such as France, to impose ‘reciprocal’ trade policies, arguing that this could violate rules set by the World Trade Organisation. Restrictions are only allowed on scientific grounds

Source. An original approach, found here

Quick Take — Increasing notifications of trade fraud, counterfeiting, adulteration and food alerts in the European Union

This is revealed in the Food Safety Alerts and Fraud Investigation Report for the year 2023, published in mid-September by the European Commission. The document brings together the results of the work of the Alert and Co-operation Network, through which member states share information on official controls in the agri-food chain… Last year, there was an 8% increase in notifications, totalling just under 4,700. The most frequent reason for notification was the presence of pesticide residues, followed by microbiological hazards, especially Salmonella, and mycotoxins

Most of the notifications concerned non-compliant fruit and vegetables rejected at customs (mainly for the presence of unauthorised pesticides)… Source.

In the USA, the situation with listeria does not look any better. Added to this is the affair involving Mc Donald’s. And the ‘salmonella’ egg affair in Franceshould be noted.

Cases like this one: Rsa in Florence, they feel ill after the meal: 3 elderly people hospitalised die, 114 intoxicated people are likely to increase.

P.S.: there were 4 RSAs.

Compiled 1 October 2024 and updated 18 February 2025