Feed grains from Eastern Europe 3
In TOS 205 a specific case was presented where a German baker found residues of a prohibited substance. The batch was replaced with a residue free one. Turns out that the wheat came from Slovakia but was moved down the Danube to the Black Sea and then shipped to Rotterdam to enter Germany. Quite a detour. See the map in that article.
In TOS 206 more practices prevalent in Black Sea supply chains are described. This is based on case studies in the past decade. One can call them practices, situations, features, which should make the CB, the inspector suspicious. Some countries learned from the fraudulent practices being discovered and the public and private sector cooperated to clean up the situation. However, while writing the article it turns out that some of these practices as well as some of these supply chains still exist.
That was to become an article in TOS 207. With the help of 2 informants, an article about a recent fraud was prepared (2025), a shipment of 78,000 tons of soy. It is a repetition of similar volumes three years and six years ago. It looks like a strategy to do this every few years. To base it on some certified farms, and every few years blow up the volumes, do the business, disappear, dissolve the involved companies before anybody starts asking questions. We decided not to publish this in TOS 207, as we would like to find out why the import authority did not intervene. We prefer to look for solutions, rather than make an allegation of incompetence or inertia, we prefer to avoid a similar case in the future.
The article in this TOS 209 is to end the series on Black Sea grains and oil cakes. It is a kind of checklist to see whether the reader has read the previous articles well, recognizes certain characteristics, and practices in problematic supply chains. The checklist can be used for risk assessment, for consideration for CBs and inspectors to better prepare the next inspection, to better inspect and observe practices. Furthermore, for importers and final users to ask questions to know the source of the goods better. Please read TOS 205 and 206 first.
The Organic Observatory intends to continue with one more article about grains, on another continent, where there are concerns about the integrity of that production, the producers, their organisers, the certification and the volumes. After that, we may want to switch to the ongoing concerns about soy as an organic feed ingredient, globally. For this, the OO needs input from (local) experts, informants to work on that very international topic. We invite people with knowledge of suspicious practices to come forward with information. We will not expose your name. Two-three persons within the Organic Observatory need to know your identity but your name and affiliation will not be exposed in any articles written or other actions undertaken.
For more information, please contact elzakker@alliancefororganicintegrity.bio.