Tourists In Italy Scammed With Old Fish, Fake Champagne

The prospective tourists of the world daydream about visiting Italy and indulging in Champagne and fresh fish, and some purveyors are more than ready to take advantage of that. Tourists should be on their guard, though, because officials in Italy say some vendors are passing off fake goods as Italian delicacies, and the travellers are being taken advantage of.

According to The Local, this summer the Italian food fraud arm of the Italian police ran an ongoing investigation into 600 different tourist sites including hotels, farm stays, and campsites in Italy. According to their investigation, 45 percent were cheating tourists.

Investigators say they found 10,000 bottles of fake wine from one farm stay in Venice. Sites in Emilia-Romagna and Campania reportedly turned up 300 bottles of counterfeit Champagne.  

"Italian and foreign tourists expect the best from our country; quality products prepared according to the Italian traditional way," said Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin.  

Altogether, police seized more than 50,000 pounds of illegal and potentially dangerous food and wine during the investigation.