The Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Health reported, through the European alert system for food and feed – RASFF, the presence of Sildenafil, substance with pharmacological activity not allowed in food supplements, in the two products listed, also sold on the internet. The alert was also published at the same time in the “Safety notices” section of the Ministry of Health website.
What is RAASF and how does it work
The RAASF is the Community rapid alert system, in the form of a network, in which the European Commission, EFSA and the Member States of the Union participate and serves to notify in real time the direct or indirect risks to public health connected to the consumption of food or feed.
The name of the unauthorized supplements
These are the supplements FORZAPIU extra strong formula lot 779296438 TMC 03/2022 pack of 4 capsules and POTENZA MAX ginseng complex lot 4589136 TMC 10/2022 pack of 4 capsules.
The two supplements are produced in the United Kingdom by Unlimited OA OA LTD, international house: 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC 1A 2BN, and sold by the Spanish broker Green Box supplements, L. Carlos Cano 9961, 29010 Malaga.
The burgeoning online business of fake supplements
In recent days, the Nas of Parma, as part of a vast police operation aimed at the repression of the trade in counterfeit drugs in Italy, Spain, France, Great Britain, Holland, Romania, Germany and Florida, carried out with the coordination of Europol , in cooperation with the Spanish Policia Nacional and with the collaboration of the Operational Department of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Health, carried out 5 searches in the provinces of Piacenza, Rieti, Turin, Rovigo and Milan at well-known logistics and online commerce companies , as a result of which about 10,000 capsules of fake dietary supplements (actually counterfeit drugs), for a value of 65,000 euros, were found and seized.
During the investigations, directed by the Public Prosecutors of Piacenza and Milan, analytical tests were carried out on the false supplements by the analysis laboratory of the Provincial Agency for the Environment of Bolzano, which highlighted the presence, within them , of the pharmacologically active ingredient called “Sildenafil” (substance contained in the drug marketed under the name “Viagra”).
The modus operandi of the criminal association, with its operational headquarters in Spain and its registered office in England, was based on the marketing of the products in question – imported from China – in the form of food supplements of natural origin, although containing synthetic pharmacological principles. This procedure allowed him to circumvent the stringent pharmaceutical regulations in force in each State, as well as the supervision of the bodies responsible for verifying and issuing the authorization for the marketing of drugs (AIFA, EMA, etc ..).
To ensure constant marketing even in the face of possible seizures, the criminal association packaged and distributed the counterfeit drugs through the use of packages with different names in each State, modifying them periodically even within the same markets.
The websites through which the fake supplements were offered for sale in Italy were blocked by the Operational Department of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Health.
Some of the main suspects who operated in our country for the import and sale of supplements were also affected by restrictive measures in Spain, the place where the British company had allocated its “core business“.