“We go to the reception. Then we put on overshoes, a blouse, a charlotte. And we go to the manufacturing premises.” Investigator at the General Directorate for the Prevention of Fraud (DGCCRF) for nearly 30 years, David Sironneau knows the procedure of unannounced checks in food factories inside out. This is called “a ‘forward’ control, from receipt of raw materials to the finished product”. And to continue: “Then we go to the offices to consult the documents.”
Since the scandal of Buitoni pizzas contaminated with E. Coli bacteria, and that of Kinder chocolates suspected of having caused hundreds of cases of salmonellosis, this system of inspections is attracting new attention. It is mainly based on mandatory self-checksare businesses. It is then up to the administrations to check them and go to the companies to make sure that everything is in conformity. Problem : their means dwindle from year to year. “We don’t have time to watch everything”confesses David Sironneau, also co-secretary general of Solidaires CCRF-SCL, the first union for the repression of fraud.
The DGCCRF is not the only administration to carry out care controls. In the food sector, skills are shared with staff from the Directorate General for Food (DGAL). The latter are responsible for establishments subject to a health approval obligation: farms or slaughterhouses, for example, as well as all those who use products of animal origin without transforming them. Those responsible for the repression of fraud deal with products already processed or directly sold to the consumer. The two entities are also in charge of hygiene controls in catering.
But soon they will become one. During the year 2023, a “single font” will meet “in charge of food safety”, under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty. The project, formalized by a decree published on June 1, 2022, plans to increase the workforce by 150 full-time equivalents (FTE), including 90 net creations and 60 jobs transferred to the DGAL, and therefore deleted from the DGCCRF, specifies the minutes of an interministerial meeting of May 6, consulted by franceinfo.
The DGAL considers that this reform “aims to make the organization of the food safety police more legible and more efficient”. The DGCCRF specifies to franceinfo that the objective is “strengthen controls related to food safety”. However, in the eyes of the unions, it is quite the opposite. If she is in favor of the principle, Martine Harnichard, secretary general of Unsa Agriculture food and forest, denounces a “forced reform”without any training plan.
“How are we going to be able to learn about health risks? And absorb additional work tasks?”
Martine Harnichard, Secretary General of Unsa Agriculture Food and Forestsat franceinfo
This veterinary inspector doubts that the agents of the repression of fraud, solicited on a voluntary basis, come to swell the ranks of the Directorate General for Food.
In fact, the two administrations have been collaborating since 2010, as part of the general review of public policies (RGPP). “It’s the office across the street! Our bosses see each other every day. We each have our own methods, but we’ve learned to work togetherdescribes Steve Mazens, Unsa trade unionist and inspector in the Gard. We are going to destabilize the two administrations a little more.” He fears that this merger represents “a danger for the consumer”.
A dark vision shared by his colleagues from the Solidaires union, who went on strike against this reform on June 21. “For example, during a control for a red label, if we notice that there is mold on a ham, an agent will not be able to act at the time. He will have to return to his office to make a report to the administration next door”, illustrates David Sironneau. Rather than a “single font”Roland Girerd, co-responsible for the Solidaires CCRF-SCL union, pleads for him, for reinforced staff.
The staffing issue will be decided during the parliamentary debate on the 2023 finance bill. But the ad comes as the quota of the repression of fraud is eroding from year to year, according to David Sironneau. He believes that the DGCCRF has “lost 1,000 jobs in 15 years” while management admits a “limited decline” workforce over the past five years. L’institution now claims around 2,900 agents, including 2,400 in the field, which carried out 133,300 checks in more than 90,000 establishments in 2021.
But in some rural departments, the lack of staff is glaring. The CGT CCRF lists 13 where only between 3 and 5 agents work. As such, the example of the Lot has caused a lot of talk internally. Unreplaced retirements, sick leave… The unions denounce an untenable situation with a single investigator for more than six months. Impossible in this case to control everything. “While waiting for new assignments, in September, reinforcements are organized by the regional management”ensures for its part the direction of the repression of the frauds.
“When we are not numerous, we are obliged to multiply the fields of competence”creaks Marc *, investigator for the DGCCRF since 2018 in a rural department, within a team of four people.
“I go from cock to donkey, from energy renovation to toys, including expired products still on the shelves…”
Marc, Fraud Prevention Inspectorat franceinfo
This young agent is annoyed to see consumer reports piling up on his desk. “Some complaints have been there for three months. I don’t have time to process everything”he sighs. So, like his colleagues, Marc does not count his hours. “Otherwise, my work is not done properly and the users suffer. When there are not enough of us, the consumer toasts”, he despairs. This rudhe daily, fraud prevention inspectors had already told franceinfo, at the time of the Lactalis affair. In four years, the situation has not improved. Mark says to himself “discouraged” and look around “a feeling of exhaustion”, sometimes with cases of burnout.
On the side of the Directorate General for Food, the workforce is also decreasing. From 5,223 in 2005, they rose to 4,655 in 2018. And in 2022, the DGAL has approximately 4,820 FTEs. Workforce “have therefore been generally consolidated in recent years”insists the DGAL, but the bulk of hiring is explained by “the deployment of sanitary and phytosanitary controls at the borders, following Brexit”. In other sectors, the administration recognizes “recruitment difficulties”.
This lack of staff has direct consequences on the ground. A veterinary inspector for fifteen years, Marion* still has in mind the case of a cannery, which she has not been able to inspect in three years. However, in the meantime, the leaders had not declared positive results of self-checks for salmonella. She then requested the blocking of the goods and the analysis of all the lots.
“It is possible that companies hide more things when there are not enough controls”points out Olivier Lapothe, Secretary General of the National Union of Veterinary Public Health Inspectors. Especially since the analyzes of companies are carried out in private laboratories, chosen by their managers. They can therefore multiply them until they obtain the desired result, as several witnesses denounce to franceinfo. But the manufacturers deny it.
“If we don’t want to see only ‘good results’, the official levies must continue.”
Olivier Lappelle, veterinary public health inspectorat franceinfo
Sometimes, the DGAL laboratories do not know how to perform certain analyzes and therefore resort to those of the repression of fraud. However, the project “single font” also raises the question of the future of the network of laboratories shared between the DGCCRF and customs. It employs 380 people and carried out around 120,000 analyzes in 2021. “The Lyon laboratory is chronically understaffed. They don’t have high-performance equipment. However, they work day and night, in addition to the weekend, when there are health scandals”, is moved Roland Girerd.
Because in times of health crisis, you have to drop everything to deal with the emergency. Thus, the last episode of avian flu, extremely virulent, monopolized the veterinary inspectors. In terms of fraud prevention, the thousands of products contaminated with ethylene oxide kept the agents busy. And then, more recently, they had to mobilize seven days a week for callbacks.Buitoni pizzas and Kinder chocolates, sometimes with the help of veterinary services.
Most of the time, visits to supermarkets are enough. But for Kinder products, we had to go, in addition, to each neighborhood grocery store. “It’s a constant priority management. We are not abandoning a sector, but we are doing less. Instead of controlling ten establishments, we inspect seven”plague Sébastien*, an inspector from the DGCCRF.
“Other, less urgent investigations are being postponed… to the detriment of security.”
Sébastien, fraud prevention inspectorat franceinfo
It is to certify the safety of the contents of our plates that the actors of the control system in the food industry are sounding the alarm. “We will never be in a situation with an official behind each production line. But the more controls we can do, the fewer holes there are in the racket”summarizes Roland Girerd.
*Names have been changed.