What is Food Fraud?
Food Fraud vs Food Defense
In the vast array of issues which can be faced in the whole food supply chain, the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) considers four categories related to food integrity (Figure 1). Distinguishing between these categories requires putting oneself in the place of the person at the source of the issue and wonder :
Is the action deliberate or unintentional?
If unintentional, it is a food safety or quality issue. But when the action is intentional, then the behaviour can be considered a crime :
- Situation 1 : the motivation of the criminal is to harm people, the type of action falls in the field of "Food defence". It can be even qualified as terrorism when the action aims at gravely disturbing public order.
- Situation 2 : the intention is only economical, the action can be considered as "Food Fraud".
Figure 1 : Difference between food fraud, food defense, food safety and food quality. Adapted from Food Fraud Think Tank (From FoodIntegrity Handbook)
Figure 2 : Terminology of food frauds. Adapted from Food Fraud Think Tank (From FoodIntegrity Handbook)
Focus on Food Fraud
Food Fraud is the deliberate and intentional substitution, addition, tampering, or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients, or mislabeling on food packaging for the seller's economic gain.
The notion of food fraud and food authenticity received increased focus as a field of investigation by the research community and the food industry in the late 2000s, following highly mediatised crises such as the melamine scandal in China in 2007 and Horsegate in 2013, with adverse impact on vulnerable consumers for the former.
← The GFSI identified 7 types of frauds (Figure 2). Find out definitions and examples in our glossary.
Fraud risk management
Food fraud is not easy to detect. The supply chain is increasingly long and involves many actors. Moreover, each product or ingredient can present multiple non-compliances, and several frauds can be committed at the same time!
To mitigate this scourge, the most important thing is to know what you are looking for because of the specificity of the analysis: each fraud technique requires a specific detection method and equipment.
As a global leader in authenticity testing and food safety certification, Eurofins, through our network of companies, offers you advanced analytical techniques to detect non-compliant products and a unique support to protect your brands and your consumers.
Edition of a guidebook : FoodIntegrity Handbook
We are partners of FoodIntegrity Handbook, a useful companion to help the food industry achieve this aim. Written by nearly 50 experts in food authenticity, it is the result of European collaboration through the EU-funded FoodIntegrity project. Food business operators, students or researchers : this book is designed for you.
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