An EU investigation uncovered a case of food fraud in Georgia, where a producer was found to be adding lesser-quality ingredients to products exported to EU countries.
Authorities were alerted after a consumer in Austria suffered an allergic reaction from consuming the product at a local bakery.
The EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed mechanism was triggered, and professionals acted immediately to share information with other member states. The food product was swiftly recalled from the shelves around Europe and subsequently banned from EU markets.
The EU food safety system is a model to countries around the world and European citizens are confident that an effective procedure is in place to ensure that harmful or inadequate food products are detected in time before they can cause widespread risks.
The story is an example of silent collaboration between professionals working in different EU countries who, together, protect citizens across member states from impending threats and dangers.
The European Commission launched a campaign to bring these ‘Chains of Heroes’ to the fore and show how cross-border cooperation between low-profile citizens keeps Europeans safe.
Titled ‘EU Protects’, the campaign features more than 270 heroes – among them, six Maltese professionals – who work the areas related to security, health, the environment and social wellbeing.
The EU Protects campaign highlights on-the-ground operations by ordinary citizens who write success stories every day.
The campaign is online at europa.eu/euprotects.
