Counterfeit food and drink, damage to Italy of over 300 million a year

Biscuits, pasta, crisps and sweets are the second most confiscated category of products at the EU's borders, accused of counterfeiting. This is reported by the Office of the European Union for Intellectual Property (Euipo). 

In 2024 alone (with the joint Europol-Interpol operation 'Opson', 'Food'), some 22,000 tonnes of food and around 850,000 litres of (mostly alcoholic) beverages, worth EUR 91 million, were detained, mainly from China and Turkey.

Wines and spirits have one of the highest falsification rates compared to other products, with annual sales losses of EUR 2,289 million and almost 5,700 jobs in the EU. The loss of tax revenue from these products is also significant: approximately EUR 2 billion.

The phenomenon of food counterfeiting produces annual losses in Italy of €302 million and over 648 jobs..

By now, the techniques have reached highly refined levels: criminals manipulate labels and packaging and modify production processes; the growth of e-commerce, then, has given counterfeiters new possibilities to distribute fraudulent food products, making it increasingly difficult for consumers to identify authentic products.