Roundtable on Counterfeit Food products | New Delhi
The food and beverage industry faces a challenge from counterfeiters on a global scale. Counterfeit foodproducts and beverages threaten the health and safety of people around the world who often unsuspectingly buy these potentially very dangerous goods. More so, this is coupled with the loss of revenue and reputation of the impacted industry. Counterfeiting in this area is particularly dangerous because consumption of non-standard or low quality edible food and drinks can lead to involuntary ingestion of toxic substances that may cause serious health ailments or be life-threatening.
The magnitude and effects of counterfeiting are of such significance that they compel strong and sustained action from governments, business and consumers. With this in view, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India [FSSAI] and FICCI’s Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy [CASCADE] jointly organized a Roundtable on Counterfeit Food Products. This roundtable was organized with the objective to have in place a detailed action plan for government, enforcement agencies and industry to address this menace. The initiative was supported by FICCI CIFTI and E-Commerce Committee.
Mr. Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, who chaired the roundtable, stated that FSSAI would look into the problem of counterfeit food products holistically and advised the food safety administration on the legal provisions available and their effective enforcement. Moreover, based on the inputs received from industry, an action plan would be developed to address the issue of counterfeit food products, which will be based on the following parameters:
* Nature, Background & Current Status of Counterfeiting of Food Products in India
* Current Legal & Regulatory Provisions to Check Counterfeiting of Goods
* Industry Initiatives for Controlling Counterfeiting
* Initiatives by E-Commerce Companies
* Initiatives by Direct Selling Companies
* Leveraging Technology: Use of Track & Trace Mechanism to Control Counterfeiting
* Strengthening of Enforcement & Surveillance Mechanism
* Consumer Awareness & Capacity Building
* CASCADE & Industry Associations Initiatives on addressing Counterfeiting
Mr. Anil Rajput, Chairman, FICCI CASCADE said that over past several years through its various initiatives, CASCADE had taken a number of steps to address the threat of counterfeiting and smuggling. A key tool to address this issue is educating consumers to ask for a bill while buying products so that this would act as a proof-of-purchase and can be used for consumer protection in case the product is a counterfeit. He also emphasized that strengthening the penal provisions along with their speedy adjudication for cases related to counterfeiting were imperative.
The roundtable was attended by leading food and beverage companies, including ITC, Nestle, Britannia, Dabur, Coco-Cola, Hindustan Unilever, Mondelez, Mars, Marico, DS Group, Perfetti Van Melle, Pernod Richard, Diageo etc. who flagged their individual issues. Representatives from major e-commerce companies, e.g. Amazon, Flipkart, Shopclues and Snapdeal also participated and explained their compliance mechanisms to address online counterfeiting.
GS1, the leading organization for anti-counterfeiting solutions, also presented their perspective on curbing this menace through the use of authentication solutions. However, it was felt that the counterfeiting scenario of each industry was unique; and therefore, solutions to address needed to be tailored according to the concerned sectors.
The members at the roundtable conclusively agreed that the criminal activities of illicit operators will only continue to be more aggressive, bolder, and more effective at infiltrating the legitimate supply chain. The proposed pragmatic action plan by FSSAI is, therefore, a welcome and much-needed step to create the desired deterrence and strengthen actions against the perpetrators of such crimes.
How the government’s gold policies make India’s neighbors richer and this country itself poorer.
In 2013, the UPA government imposed a 10 percent import duty on gold. P Chdambaram, the then finance minister was quite savvy about the way financial markets work.
He knew too well, that any import duty above the 5 percent threshold, would inevitably draw the attention of smugglers. But he hoped that official imports would reduce because of the higher duty, and consequently the current account deficit (CAD) would narrow. In his effort to spruce up the books of accounts, Chidambaram ended up making smuggling very lucrative for traders.
Gold has a special appeal for smugglers because it has a high value despite a low volume. That makes the smuggling in of gold easy — through airports, through passengers as part of personal gold, or even through carriers. Sometimes, when the contraband is large enough, it comes through dhows as well, and the metal is landed somewhere along the porous coastline of India.
Lear MoreHow the government’s gold policies make India’s neighbours richer and this country itself poorer
In 2013, the UPA government imposed a 10 percent import duty on gold. P Chdambaram, the then finance minister was quite savvy a
bout the way financial markets work.
He knew too well, that any import duty above the 5 percent threshold, would inevitably draw the attention of smugglers. But he hoped that official imports would reduce because of the higher duty, and consequently the current account deficit (CAD) would narrow. In his effort to spruce up the books of accounts, Chidambaram ended up making smuggling very lucrative for traders.
Gold has a special appeal for smugglers because it has a high value despite a low volume. That makes the smuggling in of gold easy — through airports, through passengers as part of personal gold, or even through carriers. Sometimes, when the contraband is large enough, it comes through dhows as well, and the metal is landed somewhere along the porous coastline of India.
True, the customs seize gold. But as a reply to the Lok Sabha on February 3, 2017 (in reply to the unstarred question no 387) showed, the government admitted that seizures were scant compared to the volume of gold that was being smuggled into India. The government admitted that the Income Tax Department conducted more than 1,100 searches, seizures and surveys and issued more than 5,100 notices, between November 2016 and January 2017, for verification of suspicious high value cash deposits in old high denominations.
Collectively, these raids and seizures accounted for valuables worth Rs. 610 crore which includes cash of Rs. 513 crore. Rest of the seized valuables worth Rs.97 crore was mainly in the form of gold, jewellery and silver. Of the 100 tonnes of gold smuggled in each year, the total seizure accounted for just 0.003 percent!.
Lear MoreFake Goods, Real Dangers.
The dangers of buying counterfeit products aren’t always obvious. There are economic impacts, legal implications, and health and safety risks that are important for you to know before you buy. When traveling, buy from reputable sources.
Economic Impacts – Each year, CBP seizes all kinds of counterfeit products from all over the world. Counterfeiters look to make profits by making fake versions of the hottest products as soon they are available on the market. Each time you buy a counterfeit good, a legitimate company loses revenue. This translates to lost profits and U.S. jobs over time. Know who you buy from.
Health and Safety – Counterfeiters don’t care about your well-being. They just want to make a profit. Many counterfeit products are low-quality and can cause injuries. Last year, CBP seized more items that pose health and safety risks than ever before. The top three categories were personal care, pharmaceuticals, and consumer electronics. Protect yourself and your family by avoiding potentially risky items.
Legal Implications – It is illegal to purchase counterfeit goods. Bringing them into the United States may result in civil or criminal penalties. Purchasing counterfeit goods supports criminal activities such as money laundering and trafficking in illegal guns and drugs. Remember, if it seems like a steal, it is.
https://www.cbp.gov/FakeGoodsRealDangers
Lear More
Fake Goods, Real Dangers.
The dangers of buying counterfeit products aren’t always obvious. There are economic impacts, legal implications, and health and safety risks that are important for you to know before you buy. When traveling, buy from reputable sources.
Economic Impacts – Each year, CBP seizes all kinds of counterfeit products from all over the world. Counterfeiters look to make profits by making fake versions of the hottest products as soon they are available on the market. Each time you buy a counterfeit good, a legitimate company loses revenue. This translates to lost profits and U.S. jobs over time. Know who you buy from.
Health and Safety – Counterfeiters don’t care about your well-being. They just want to make a profit. Many counterfeit products are low-quality and can cause injuries. Last year, CBP seized more items that pose health and safety risks than ever before. The top three categories were personal care, pharmaceuticals, and consumer electronics. Protect yourself and your family by avoiding potentially risky items.
Legal Implications – It is illegal to purchase counterfeit goods. Bringing them into the United States may result in civil or criminal penalties. Purchasing counterfeit goods supports criminal activities such as money laundering and trafficking in illegal guns and drugs. Remember, if it seems like a steal, it is.
E-Commerce – E-Commerce is a growing segment of the U.S. economy and has been increasing significantly for the past several years. Consumer habits are changing as the internet allows individuals to make purchases online. These advances in economic activity have led to increasing volumes of imports of small, just-in-time packages, creating inspection challenges for CBP. E-Commerce shipments pose the same health, safety, and economic security risks as containerized shipments, but the volume is higher and continues to grow. Additionally, transnational criminal organizations are shipping illicit goods to the United States via small packages due to a perceived lower interdiction risk and less severe consequences if the package is interdicted.
https://www.cbp.gov/FakeGoodsRealDangers
Lear MoreOnline Searches Often Lead Customers to Counterfeit Goods.
Counterfeit items have been a problem for some of the internet’s biggest retailers for a while now. During their analysis, researchers said, they learned about the proliferation of counterfeit goods simply by conducting searches.
According to the survey, 60% of Google’s first-page results for a brand name antibiotic called Bactrim led to websites that researchers believe were “very likely to be operating unlawfully.” While the biggest concern about counterfeit drugs (and the websites selling them) are potential health issues that could result from taking counterfeit medication, researchers also discovered that these sites could be hacked, leading to potentially dangerous consequences for a person’s private data.
The problems didn’t stop there, either. Researchers found that when they searched for a “Comotomo teether,” nearly one-third of all results featured “potentially harmful products.” Consumers searching for new “white goods,” or common appliances like refrigerators and washing machines, were regularly sent to a website selling counterfeit products.
While the issue has become widespread on some of the world’s top search engines, researchers said there’s currently very little legal recourse.
Through the study, researchers questioned how such situations could exist on major search engines like Google, which facilitates roughly 3.5 billion searches every day.
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15311-online-searches-counterfeit-goods.html
Lear MoreOnline Searches Often Lead Customers to Counterfeit Goods.
Counterfeit items have been a problem for some of the internet’s biggest retailers for a while now. During their analysis, researchers said, they learned about the proliferation of counterfeit goods simply by conducting searches.
According to the survey, 60% of Google’s first-page results for a brand name antibiotic called Bactrim led to websites that researchers believe were “very likely to be operating unlawfully.” While the biggest concern about counterfeit drugs (and the websites selling them) are potential health issues that could result from taking counterfeit medication, researchers also discovered that these sites could be hacked, leading to potentially dangerous consequences for a person’s private data.
The problems didn’t stop there, either. Researchers found that when they searched for a “Comotomo teether,” nearly one-third of all results featured “potentially harmful products.” Consumers searching for new “white goods,” or common appliances like refrigerators and washing machines, were regularly sent to a website selling counterfeit products.
While the issue has become widespread on some of the world’s top search engines, researchers said there’s currently very little legal recourse.
Through the study, researchers questioned how such situations could exist on major search engines like Google, which facilitates roughly 3.5 billion searches every day.
In the course of its research, Incopro’s lawyers asked Google to explain its position on these websites and how it removes websites that have infringed on other companies’ trademarks. Incopro’s lawyers were told that the tech giant didn’t “at this time deindex URLs or websites from its Web Search index on trademark grounds upon request,” meaning that the company would do nothing – even if your intellectual property was being copied. Google promised, however, that it would “evaluate court orders issued against third parties and, where appropriate (with content specifically identified), voluntarily remove content from our Web Search results.”
Researchers also learned that Google would “seek relief from orders against it,” meaning that legal rights holders would have to go through litigation to protect their rights and consumer safety. Such a stance doesn’t favor the copyright holder or small businesses, since litigation is often slow and expensive.
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15311-online-searches-counterfeit-goods.html
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Pharmaceuticals and Food Anti-Counterfeiting Technologies Market 2019 – 2025 Industry Size, Share, Opportunities and Growth Analysis with Top Players Inksure Technologies, Sun Chemical, CFC International, Data System International
This report demos every aspect of the Anti-Counterfeiting Packaging market starting from the basic market info and moving forward to various essential standards, on the basis of which, the Anti-Counterfeiting Packaging market is segmented. Main use case scenarios of the Anti-Counterfeiting Packaging market are also mentioned on the basis of their performance. Furthermore, the geological segmentation is provided in the report.
For the purpose of the study, Global Pharmaceuticals and Food Anti-Counterfeiting Technologies market is segmented based on various parameters. An in-depth regional classification of the market is also included herein. The factors which are impacting the market’s growth are studied in detail. The report also presents a round-up of vulnerabilities which companies operating in the market must avoid in order to enjoy sustainable growth through the course of the forecast period.
Market Segment by Product Type
Authentication
Inks and Dyes
Holograms
Watermarks
Market Segment by Application
Food
Pharmaceuticals
Others
Lear MoreCustoms staff begin process to auction 24kg seized gold.
Ludhiana: Customs Commissionerate of Ludhiana has initiated the auction proceedings of 24kg gold seized and confiscated in different actions at the Chandigarh International Airport, Mohali (CHIAL). This was informed by commissioner of customs Arvinder Singh Ranga, who also said the gold was valued at Rs7.36 crore approximately.
Speaking to TOI, Ranga said, “There are nine international flights from Dubai and Sharjah per week at CHIAL, and there is arrival of approximately 1,500 passengers a week. The Customs staff posted at the airport is well equipped to curb the activities of smuggling of any goods, and the airport now has the advanced passenger information system (APIS), which helps in the profiling of passengers. In the first year (2016-17), one case of smuggling of 250g gold, valued at Rs6.3 lakh was detected by us; in 2017-18, as many as 25 cases of smuggling of 14.993kg gold, valued at Rs4.30 crore were detected; in 2018-19, there was seizure of 10.743kg gold, valued at Rs3.29 crore; and in the current financial year up to September, 9.57kg gold, valued at Rs3.08 crore has been seized.”
Fake Bazaar! From Lipsticks To Toothpastes, Noodles To Milk, Counterfeit Products Make A Killing
Adulterated products are carefully mixed with originals. Unpacked spices, edible oil and grey powder passed off as cement are part of a Rs 1 Trillion parallel economy.
Up a narrow street in one of the shanty colonies in East Delhi, we are on the top floor of an unassuming, three-storey building. It’s a decent-sized hall, about 700 sq feet, the size of a compact 2BHK. Two people, both in their 30s, are stacking empty packets in neat piles on a large table. Nescafe 500 gm, one of the top coffee buys in the world. You still can’t smell the coffee…it’s empty, remember?
Well, figuratively speaking, you can. It’s a stiff concoction. Before Nescafe, they’d just finished stacking empty 200 gm packets of Tata Tea, India’s top tea brand. Besides, one can see bundles of several other big brands strewn around the hall: things you wash with (Surf Excel, Tide); things you put in your food (Maggie Masala, Tata Salt); things you put on your body (Sunsilk, Dove, Pantene). All empty…. The maal is elsewhere.
So what exactly is happening here? Well, this is a superbazaar of another kind, and we’re at a point high up on its invisible production chain. With a 10-colour rotogravure printing machine, these men are printing the packaging materials of over 100 top brands: processed food, dairy products, auto spare parts, what have you. It’s off the radar and totally illegal, of course. But you don’t even realise it when these labels quietly come out of the dark and join the well-lit racks of the real superbazaar.
“Except for four or five hours when we stop it to put on the printing rolls or cylinder, it works round the clock,” says one of them, about the machine’s workload. Reluctant to prolong the conversation, they get back to their jobs. The factory worker’s stoic face is back. Outlook got this sneak peek into the inner chambers of India’s vast counterfeit goods market with the help of a source who facilitates the sale of these packaging materials to wholesalers. The first nodal point in an ecosystem that runs parallel to the legal supply chain.
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