5 companies caught counterfeiting phytosanitary certificates

On August 23rd, MAPA (the ministry of agriculture, livestock, and food supply) and the police carried out the joint operation “Fitofake” to search and seize five companies that forged phytosanitary certificates in the export of Brazilian products such as coffee, rice, and pepper.

The fraud was identified with the help of official agencies of importing countries, which noticed differences in the documents and brought it to the attention of the secretariat for agricultural defense’s department of plant health and agricultural inputs.

The Phytosanitary Certificate is considered a vegetable passport and is required by the phytosanitary authorities of the countries to allow the entry of products in that territory.

“The documents used improper information, indicating that the products had been inspected and were free from pests and diseases. Frauds in phytosanitary certificates can cast doubt on the credibility of the Brazilian certification and have repercussions for all exporters”, reports the head of MAPA’s department of phytosanitary inspection and certification, Eduardo Henrique Magalhães.

MAPA performs an export inspection to verify and certify that plant products comply with the requirements of importing countries. The only internationally recognized organization to certify information of this nature is the department of plant health and agricultural inputs, through the phytosanitary certificate issued by federal agricultural tax auditors.

“In these cases of forgery of the certificate, the products did not have the guarantees that pests and diseases harmful to the destination country were not present in the coffee beans, rice, and pepper”, explains Magalhães.

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