Abstract
Food fraud is a criminal intent motivated by economic gain to adulterate or misrepresent food ingredients and packaging. The development of a reliable food supply system is at great risk under globalization, but Food Business Operators (FBOs) have a legal obligation to implement and maintain food traceability and quality at all stages of food production, processing, and distribution. Incidents of food fraud have a strong negative impact on consumer confidence in the food industry. Therefore, local and international regulatory mechanisms are established to prevent or mitigate food fraud. This review brings new perspectives linking EU and US legislation, as well as new definitions and descriptions of the criminal aspect of food fraud incidents. It also describes certain new insights into the application of state-of-the-art methods and techniques that provide valuable tools for geographic, botanical, or other chemical markers of food authenticity. The review also provides an overview of the most common cases of food fraud worldwide from 2010 to 2020. Further research is needed to support the development of predictive models for innovative approaches to adulteration, especially when some valuable nutrients are replaced by toxic ingredients. A possible solution to minimize food fraud incidents is to increase the level of risk-based inspections, establish more productive monitoring and implementation of food protection systems in the supply chain, and implement better ingredient control and certification. National and international (e.g., regional) police offices for food fraud should be introduced, possessing knowledge and skills in food, food safety, food processing, and food products, as initial positive results have emerged in some countries.
Highlights
Even in ancient times, food traders sought to make greater profits by manipulating the quality of food, disguising the origin of the product, or concealing the expiration date for consumption
Food business operators (FBOs) have a legal obligation to comply with food hygiene requirements, and to establish and maintain traceability and quality at all stages of production, processing, and distribution
Food fraud is an increasingly problematic phenomenon, whose presence may be significantly reduced by Food Business Operators (FBOs), by implementing a food quality management system and food defence principles within production (FSCC 22000, BRC Food Standard 8, PAS 96, IFS Food Version 6.1, SQF Quality Code), in order for manufacturers that have an interest to retain the quality of the final food product, as well as consumers’ trust
Summary
Food traders sought to make greater profits by manipulating the quality of food, disguising the origin of the product, or concealing the expiration date for consumption. Food business operators (FBOs) have a legal obligation to comply with food hygiene requirements, and to establish and maintain traceability and quality (of food for human and animal consumption, as well as ingredients used in food) at all stages of production, processing, and distribution. They are responsible for developing a reliable food supply system, with the ultimate goal of providing consumers with a safe food product. The food safety approach should protect the food supply chain from unintentional contamination, while food defence protects the food supply chain from intentional adulteration that can cause harm [2], as well as from unauthorized food manipulation (UFM) (Figure 1)
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