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WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING WITH FIPRONIL
What is Europe doing about it?
While statistics show that more and more tests are being carried out, the crackdown is really slow in relation to the speed and the volume with which the problem is now propagating worldwide.
A whistleblower alerted the authorities in November 2016 regarding the addition of Fipronil – which is prohibited – to products which are sold.
Nine months after, we have a scandal to deal with, which entails daily revelations, which cause the consumer great worry.
A quick intervention would have prevented the roll-out of a of a false miracle offering, and also the impact on the 18 countries affected to date, and would have nipped in the bud this instance of fraud, which reflects badly on the food supply chain which is our business, and which makes our consumers trust us a little bit less.
The authorities act too slowly, and this is the reason why ActiMeat has continued with its own prevention strategy – which, of course, does not fool proof – but it reduces the risk involved.
Our voluntary policy enables us to continue paying, as regards our supply chain, the greatest of attention to the quality of our products and to the stability of our ecosystem.
Over the past three years, we have been regularly carrying out tests as regards multiple types of pesticide residues in the batches of meat we purchase, in order to detect active substances, which include, amongst others, a test for Fipronil, in our supplies, by geographical origin.
The overall testing costs us €1,000 per batch. We cannot carry out these tests systematically, but they act as a red flag, both as regards our purchases, and vis-à-vis our suppliers, even though we have never detected the molecule in question in the meat we buy since we have put this system in place.
We never buy meat from intermediaries, we have complete control over all of the supply chain as regards our supplies since we know the suppliers with which we are dealing.
We are very attentive as regards the risk of fraud. We care about the environmental impact of what we produce, and we prefer to source our products locally, in line with what our clients in Europe want.
It costs us money to implement these measures but at the same time, we put a huge effort into improving our productivity in certain areas as regards our structure, which allows us to provide product offerings which are competitive.
There is no need for new legislation, for an ad hoc committee or for a new body, but rather just for better cooperation, incorporating all players in the supply chain.
So help us to pursue this objective through your support.
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