UK authorities nab thousands of counterfeit Prosecco bottles

Thousands of bottles of Prosecco that originate from eastern Europe – rather than the Italian region around Venice and Trieste that is the only area able to use the term – have been seized in Coventry, UK.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said that it appears the bottles originated from Moldova, which currently lies outside the EU but has been pursuing membership.

The Italian government and the country’s Prosecco producer consortium has been desperately trying to clamp down on the illegal trade, both within Italy and overseas. A report from the Central Inspectorate of Quality Protection and Fraud Repression (ICQRF) earlier this year found that there had been 749 cases of fraud involving Prosecco between June 2014 and the end of 2017, the highest of any product monitored, with eBay and Amazon featuring prominently among online sources, ahead of other platforms such as Alibaba.

Countries involved in the illicit trade included not only Moldova but also the UK, Germany, Romania, Ireland, Poland, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Denmark, Slovenia and Hungary. Some counterfeit producers have now started listing their products as “Secco Bioanco” to avoid scrutiny.

Image courtesy of Nicole_80 / Pixabay