“Green War” is the name of the inquiry run by ICQRF (Central Inspectorate for the protection of food quality and Prevention of Fraud) and Guardia di finanza (Revenue Guard Corps) on imported grains (soy, corn and flax) of Ukrainian and Moldovan production which arrived in the EU mainly via Malta.rn rn23 people are under investigation; according to official press releases and information provided by the control body Suolo e Salute, involved companies are DELVA CORPORATION Ltd of Malta, certified by MCCAA, companies certified by ICS BIOZOO and Suolo e Salute in Moldova and Ukraine (ANTAS 1 and IM AGRICEREAL) and others certified by ICS BIOZOO in these countries, whose names at the moment aren’t known, F.A.ZOO MANGIMI SRL and F.LLI GRIMALDI & C. snc, both certified by Suolo e Salute srl and BERNAM srl, certified by ICEA. The current President, a regional manager, a former collaborator of Suolo e Salute and the management of BIOZOO group are under investigation; in the case of BIOZOO we don’t know details about the investigated persons, as BIOZOO is not member of the national umbrella federation of the organic industry FederBio.Suolo e Salute srl shows to have taken all appropriate initiatives to fight against fraud attempts, generally in anticipation of public authorities in the detection of GMOs or not allowed active principles, downgrading the commodities found in controlled operators’ warehouses. As regards 3,040 tons of corn from the Moldovan operator IM AGRICEREAL (certified by ICS BIOZOO) and imported in the EU by DELVA CORPORATION Ltd to be sold to F.A.ZOO MANGIMI SRL, on request by Suolo e Salute, in January 2013 both the Maltese certification body and ICS BIOZOO confirmed the regularity of the transaction. As regards the batch of soybean from the Moldovan operator ANTAS 1 imported in the EU from DELVA CORPORATION Ltd to be sold to F.A.ZOO MANGIMI srl or directly by F.A.ZOO MANGIMI srl they were declassified by Suolo e Salute at the end of year 2012.In the course of inspections carried out by Suolo e Salute after the start of “Green War” inquiry, additional quantities of grain, panel and soybean oil have been identified and blocked at two other Italian operators. We have no information on the activities of ICS BIOZOO and BIOZOO srl with respect to products and operators under their responsibility involved in the investigation (as mentioned above, BIOZOO is entirely alien to the federation).The products under seizure are for animal fee; as far as we know, they are soy, corn and flax feed, of whom public laboratories are currently verifying conformity.rn rnThe Italian organic industry umbrella federation FederBio has alerted its member organizations since June 2012 about products coming from Eastern Europe via Malta with ICS BIOZOO’s certification, which were considered at risk; the operators who are members of organizations which are members of FederBio therefore have avoided buying these products or have limited purchases to batches directly verified by their own certification bodies. Italian certification bodies are further investigating the situation on the basis of progress in the official investigation to trace the path of the products under investigation.rn rnFederBio reported officially and repeatedly to the Ministry of Agriculture its suspicions, with the appropriate details, and it requested that the ministry would take the same precautions during the licensing of imports and suggested to involve the European Commission services, as that the problem did not seem to apply only to Italy, but to the whole EU. The Italian organic industry is not an accomplice to fraud, on the contrary, it is the author of reporting to the authorities: the Central Inspectorate for the protection of food quality and Prevention of Fraud, which depends on the Ministry of Agriculture, intervened after reports of the Italian organic industry through its representative organizations, which were active in the reporting of suspected fraud by non-member companies.rnJust at the same time of the news about the sequestration, Federbio was keeping in Bologna a meeting with the major Italian companies in the sector of organic grains to present its new FederBio Integrity Platform, developed in collaboration with the German consultancy ORGANIC SERVICES and the Austrian software house INTACT; the platform is able to handle surfaces, traceability of production and sales of all organic raw materials for animal feed, cereals and grains produced not only domestically but even abroad; its activation will be achieved by September 2013. This platform, not required by European regulation and whose costs are paid by the Italian organic industry, will make the Italian organic sector the most transparent in the world and make it “sealed” to any attempt of fraud.rnThe Italian organic industry, expressing appreciation for the work of the Central Inspectorate for the protection of food quality and Prevention of Fraud, and the Revenue Guard Corps, which follows its own reporting of suspects, wishes that attempts of fraud will be punished with the severity deserved to who poses a risk to the credibility of a whole sector based on transparency and rigor.rn rnDETAILS FOR FOREIGN READERSrnSome details in order to help foreign readers who may not know the Italian judicial system:a) a person “under investigation” is subjected to a preliminary investigation, the step in which the judicial authority collects useful elements for the formulation of a charge;b) at the end of the preliminary investigation, the prosecutor may request the dismissal of the action or ask the indictment. Only in that moment the person takes on the quality of “defendant” and is subject to criminal prosecution;c) the “seizure” of the products is a temporary precautionary measure to ensure their preservation in custody;d) the court may order the “release from seizure” of seized goods or their “confiscation”;e) as long as people will not be “indicted” are only “investigated”, until a judgment does not indicate them as “guilty” they are only “charged”;f) the “suspension” of some operators from their respective control bodies is a precautionary tool, some “investigated” operator has not been suspended because their control body found there is no doubt about their work;g) foreign companies can obtain information on the organic status of a company from its control body or from FederBio (info@federbio.it);f) last considerations: 1) as soon as the Moldovan/Maltese connection roused suspicion, the Italian organic federation alerted its network, the public authority and some European organic organizations; 2) no company part of the Italian organic movement bought anything uncertain from this supply chain; 3) foreign companies who, on the contrary, bought something, please refrain from moaning about Italian organic industry and please think over their purchase policy. Winning offers of too low-cost products rarely lead to a win.rn rnDetails about Green Warrn
