Insight - The Wegdam Food Fraud Case Presented By Kevin Taylor

Despite just two hours’ driving from Belgium to Holland and the two countries speaking the same language, the news about the Wegdam Food Link fraud that Kevin Taylor shared on his program “Loud Silence TV,” escaped my attention.

The case of the fraud investigation leading to the arrest of several people involves the processing of meat, shipped to various African countries, including Ghana.

The original news about the food fraud appeared in several Dutch newspapers, including, “RTV Oost” - https://bit.ly/34qaJPo.

Wegdam Food Link is the name of a food company based in Holland, belonging to one Mr. Brian Wegdam. He is also the owner of the Wegdam Foundation, representing trade and investment on the continent of Africa.

The Netherlands investigation Service of the Food and Consumer Product Safety started investigating this food company over document fraud involving exported chicken for a very long time, leading to the arrest of several people.

The authorities were investigating the official veterinary certificates and consignment information as well as other business records, involving the listing of frozen chicken meat and other products, such as fish, exported to countries mainly in Africa.

The investigation of the document fraud involving exported chicken to Africa, suspected to be working with the Dutch Food Company, also took place in Belgium and Spain,

The purpose of the suspected fraud is thought to reduce import duties for the recipient by up to 70 percent. The Service of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety authorities said this type of fraud poses a risk to food safety.

According to the Dutch Food Safety authorities, when something is wrong with a portion of food, it must be possible to find out where the product came from and to whom it was delivered.

However, this tracking can sometimes prove to be a difficult issue because the official documents covering the foods are not accurate.

In another development, the Spanish Guardia Civil seized nearly 2,000 pieces of meat in an operation against food fraud in the province of Cáceres.

Security Agencies to probing the biggest Ghanaian importer

Also, ham, sausages, and frozen pig meat were confiscated, while the authorities blocked 760 kilograms of sausages and 4,500 kilograms of frozen meat.

The operation which the Spanish authorities named “Sekai,” began in November 2020, after activity was detected at a closed meat factory on an industrial estate in the town of Malpartida de Plasencia.

The authorities found out that storage, distribution, and marketing of food products of animal origin were being carried out without controls by local authorities since they failed to register the site.

Further investigation and inspection also revealed that the date of consumption of meat has either been modified or expired.

Due to immense poverty and hardships in Africa, consumers often look for cheap food imported to the Black Continent, thus; many of the cheaper frozen foods, including chicken, fish, pig meat, etc, often pose risks to food safety.

The Dutch, Belgian, and Spanish authorities have done a good job to investigate the right procedure and safety measures to prevent any food contamination which could lead to the outbreak of disease or pandemic in African countries.

The Food and Drug Administration – FDA in Africa must also increase its efficiency to control many of the unhygienic consumer products that are easily shipped from developed countries to Africa.