Food fraud prevention shifts the food risk focus to vulnerability

Food ingredient fraud and economically motivated adulteration are emerging risks, but a comprehensive compilation of information about known problematic ingredients and detection methods does not currently exist. The objectives of this research were to collect such information from publicly available articles in scholarly journals and general media, organize into a database, and review and analyze the data to identify trends. The results summarized are a database that will be published in the US Pharmacopeial Convention's Food Chemicals Codex, 8th edition, and includes 1305 records, including 1000 records with analytical methods collected from 677 references. Olive oil, milk, honey, and saffron were the most common targets for adulteration reported in scholarly journals, and potentially harmful issues identified include spices diluted with lead chromate and lead tetraoxide, substitution of Chinese star anise with toxic Japanese star anise, and melamine adulteration of high protein content foods. High-performance liquid chromatography and infrared spectroscopy were the most common analytical detection procedures, and chemometrics data analysis was used in a large number of reports. Future expansion of this database will include additional publically available articles published before 1980 and in other languages, as well as data outside the public domain. The authors recommend in-depth analyses of individual incidents. This report describes the development and application of a database of food ingredient fraud issues from publicly available references. The database provides baseline information and data useful to governments, agencies, and individual companies assessing the risks of specific products produced in specific regions as well as products distributed and sold in other regions. In addition, the report describes current analytical technologies for detecting food fraud and identifies trends and developments.

This survey of International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) members regarding food fraud prevention, management, education, and information sharing included 166 WHO member states that resulted in 175 responses. The respondents engage in food fraud prevention (70%) or are responsible for food fraud incident response (74%). Nearly all respondents acknowledged a desire for more guidance and information on best practices in managing the full range of “food safety events involving food fraud” (97%), but also for prevention of such events (97%), indicating a need to provide technical support beyond acute incident response. The scope of food fraud covered in the survey comprised the full range of fraudulent activities, including the addition of adulterant-substances, tampering (including mislabeling), theft, smuggling, gray market/diversion, and counterfeiting (intellectual property rights). Key needs included: capacity-building/education; a platform for information sharing; and utilization of INFOSAN as an interagency/intergovernmental collaboration point.

Reports of incidents associated with the misrepresentation of food products as well as the adulteration of their composition leading, at times, to significant public health impacts are being recorded. This paper aims at summarizing the outputs of three workshops dedicated to the theme "Global Understanding of Food Fraud" (GUFF), held in Quebec City in Canada (April 2017), Beijing in the People's Republic of China (October 2017) and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (October 2018). Based on the contributions made at these workshops, the paper reviews current knowledge related to food fraud shared by experts and stakeholders representing the food industry sector, food regulators both domestically and internationally and scientists from Academia. It also discusses approaches available to the industry across the food supply chain to predict, prevent, and possibly mitigate food fraud, inclusive of targeted and non-targeted methods of analysis. The paper offers a discussion on areas warranting the mobilization of efforts and resources of the food stakeholder community to reach consistent and accessible guidance on food fraud prevention, validated analytical methods along with an increased emphasis on prevention in food regulatory measures targeting food fraud. Further development is needed to reach consistent and accessible guidance on food fraud prevention, validated analytical methods, along with an emphasis on food fraud prevention. Food fraud is receiving increased attention from consumers, regulators, and industry. International food fraud experts were invited to three workshops. Contributions and conclusions from the workshops are reported and discussed.

Africa is projected to have 2.4 billion people by 2050 and provision of healthy and nutritious diets is one of the challenges facing food systems. Food fraud is an act of deliberate adulteration and counterfeiting of food ingredients and commodities at all stages of supply chains with the aim of economic gain. Food fraud in Africa is a menace both in public health and for the economic development. Food fraud is perpetuated at all stages of the food supply chain to alter the quality of food products for economic gain or financial advantage thus threatening food safety. In addition, limited information is available on food fraud monitoring/manifestation in Africa thus hindering the prevention efforts. The standard bodies in sub-Saharan Africa countries play a vital role in combating food fraud. However, weak reporting mechanisms and regulatory systems in Africa remains a challenge in controlling food fraud. This current review explores food fraud in Africa and stakeholder (consumers, industries and regulators) challenges in the supply chain in attempt to combat food fraud. The recommendations of the review will be helpful to policymakers and scientists in improving the quality and safety of food along the supply chain, and in reducing fraud. Quality testing infrastructure and technical know-how are very important for frequent and rigorous quality control of food products and food fraud prevention. The standard and regulatory bodies in African governments need to strengthen and comply with the regulations that govern food fraud and support enforcement and food safety.

Sensors break out of the lab

Chapter 5 - Food fraud criminology

The current state of food fraud prevention: overview and requirements to address ‘How to Start?’ and ‘How Much is Enough?’

Food fraud is an ever-present threat that regulators, food business operators (FBOs), and consumers need to be aware of, prevent where possible, and address by developing mitigation strategies to detect and reduce its negative consequences. While extant literature focuses on food fraud detection, there is less attention given to prevention strategies, a knowledge gap this review seeks to address. The aim of this review was to consider food-related fraud prevention initiatives, understand what has worked well, and develop a series of recommendations on preventing food fraud, both policy related and for future research. Reactive (including intelligence based) food fraud detection dominates over prevention strategies, especially where financial, knowledge, and time resources are scarce. First-generation tools have been developed for food fraud vulnerability assessment, risk analysis, and development of food fraud prevention strategies. However, examples of integrated food control management systems at FBO, supply chain, and regulatory levels for prevention are limited. The lack of hybrid (public/private) integration of food fraud prevention strategies, as well as an effective verification ecosystem, weakens existing food fraud prevention plans. While there are several emergent practice models for food fraud prevention, they need to be strengthened to focus more specifically on capable guardians and target hardening. This work has implications for policymakers, Official Controls bodies, the food industry, and ultimately consumers who seek to consistently purchase food that is safe, legal, and authentic.

Introducing the Food Fraud Prevention Cycle (FFPC): A dynamic information management and strategic roadmap

Gap analysis of the Canadian food fraud regulatory oversight and recommendations for improvement

Food that is safe, made and declared nutritionally correct and free movement contribute significantly to the health and well-being of citizens and to their social and economic interests. This is essential for the EU internal market and food fraud prevention and detection policies make an important contribution to the exercise of this responsibility. The prevalence of food fraud can be explained by the complex nature of global food supply chains and the economic incentive to provide cheaper food. Fraudulent practices in the food sector can also lead to risks to public health.This paper highlights the main strategies and measures to effectively combat food fraud in public catering in Romania. Due to the impact of food fraud issues on public health and consumer confidence, it is important to build and implement a system of appropriate prevention, control and improvement measures (SPCI - food fraud - PA). Raising awareness of the risks associated with food fraud, educating consumers and catering workers is the main pillar of the proposed system. Standardization of food quality and safety, monitoring of supply chains, transparency and exchange of information, cooperation between links in the food chain, and appropriate sanctioning of those involved in fraud, are key issues addressed in this paper. The development of a set of recommendations for consumers and operators lays the foundation for activities that will support the national plan to reduce food fraud. By implementing these strategies, we can develop a system that makes catering safer, more transparent, an economic sector that preserves product integrity and protects public health.

This paper addresses the role of governments, industry, academics, and non-governmental organizations in Food Fraud prevention. Before providing strategic concepts for governments and authorities, definitions of Food Fraud are reviewed and discussed. Next there is a review of Food Fraud activities by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), the Elliott Review in the United Kingdom, the European Commission resolution on Food Fraud, and the US Food Safety Modernization Act including the Preventative Controls Rule. Two key concepts for governments or a company are: (1) formally, and specifically, mention food fraud as a food issue and (2) create an enterprise-wide Food Fraud prevention plan. The research includes a case study of the implementation of the concepts by a state or provincial agency. This analysis provides a foundation to review the role of science and technology in detection, deterrence and then contributing to prevention.

A comprehensive review of food fraud terminologies and food fraud mitigation guides

Food fraud poses a significant challenge within the global food supply chain, with apprehensions regarding aspects such as food safety, authenticity, and efficiency. Currently, food fraud prevention is emerging as a unique food research area due to the unpredictability and potential economic gain to fraudsters. However, food fraud incidence/ events are increasing. Due to globalization of production and distribution, modern food fraud events could be massive in scale as they have both regional and global impact. In this minireview, we have described the basic organic food landscape, concept of food fraud, and its types. Emphasis has been given to the various validated methods of identification of food frauds and techniques employed for their detection. Methods such as spectroscopy, chromatography, and DNA -/chemometric -based techniques. Further, the application potential of recently developed AI-based techniques is also briefly discussed. In a separate section, food fraud issues related to herbs and spices have been dealt with a focus on various sensitive detection methods based on DNA technology and illustrated with a subset of specific spices and organic Honey.

The Chinese milk supply chain: A fraud perspective