Food fraud vulnerability assessment tools used in food industry

Food fraud prevention strategies: Building an effective verification ecosystem

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.

Historical evolution of basic characteristics, underlying causes, and management tools of food fraud in China: 1949-2022

The emergence and development of food fraud are closely related to a country's economic system and social development. It has distinct characteristics in different historical stages, and an inherent historical logic links different historical stages. Following the thread of "what", "why", and "what to do", this study uses a broad perspective and comparative historical approach to examine the evolution of the basic characteristics, underlying causes, and management tools of food fraud in China at different historical stages over 70 years from 1949 to 2022. This study argues that the historical evolution of food fraud in China has characteristics unique to China as well as features similar to those in other countries. It provides a window for academics to understand the historical evolution of food fraud in China. It also provides valuable insights for other countries, especially developing countries, for objectively understanding the evolution of food fraud during their economic development process, and how to address it.

Are online meatball restaurants in Indonesia committed to their declared Halal label?

Background and Aim

Halal restaurants participating in online food delivery services do not require halal certification. The Halal status of products through the Halal logo provides the consumer with information on the basis of which he decides to buy. Online transactions involve potential risks related to online processes, payment methods, and product quality. The aim of this study was to determine whether a declared Halal label is in accordance with the business processes implemented.

Materials and Methods

Halal authentication of Gofood's meatball partner products in Yogyakarta and Solo Raya determined the incompatibility of meatball ingredients. Sixty meatball samples were collected from Yogyakarta and 30 samples from Solo Raya. Halal certification test was carried out using the thermal cycle polymerase chain reaction method at Universitas Gadjah Mada Animal Husbandry Laboratory and the results were used to identify pork contamination in meatballs. The addition of pork or pork meatballs was used as a control.

Results

Eight meatball restaurants in the Solo Raya and Yogyakarta areas were found to be contaminated with pig DNA. The results of the tracing materials and processes, i.e., the grinding stage, are critical because all samples were supposed to be made from beef. It is known from interviews that contamination with pig DNA at the milling stage was accidental.

Conclusion

Restaurants that sell meatballs are committed to adhering to product labels that are 91.1% safe from pork contamination. The Halal and original beef labels were in accordance with their statements. This study highlights the concept of Halal authentication with traceability to overcome pork contamination in meat products.

How Worried Are You about Food Fraud? A Preliminary Multi-Country Study among Consumers in Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries

Food fraud is an old, recurring, and global threat to public health. It poses a serious threat to food security in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite the prevalence of food fraud in SSA, little is known about how food fraud is viewed by consumers. This study aims to provide an overview of consumers' concerns about food fraud in SSA. A multi-country survey was conducted in October 2022-31 January 2023, and 838 valid responses were returned. To reduce the large and correlated dataset, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used. Five components were derived from PCA: (i) Staple foods; (ii) Premium food and drink products; (iii) Trust in reliable sources; (iv) Trust in less reliable sources; and (v) Trust in food vendors. The findings revealed Ghanaian (mean rank = 509.47) and Nigerian (mean rank = 454.82) consumers tended to score higher on the measure of food fraud concern suggesting that they were less confident in the safety and quality of the food they consume. Demographic characteristics including age, number of children, personal and family experience of food fraud and PCA components such as 'Staple foods', 'Trust in reliable sources', and 'Trust in food vendors' significantly predicted the model. This is the first preliminary study to provide empirical findings on consumers' concerns about food fraud in SSA. Practical and policy recommendations for the region are suggested. This includes (i) modelling the AfriFoodinTegrity in West Africa across other major regions such as Central, East, and Southern Africa; (ii) establish a regional sub-Saharan Africa Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (SSA-RASFF) platform; and (iii) food safety and food fraud reports could be incorporated into SSA-RASFF portal for information sharing.

Incidents and Potential Adverse Health Effects of Serious Food Fraud Cases Originated in Asia

Food fraud has long been regarded as a major issue within the food industry and is associated with serious economic and public health concerns. Economically motivated adulteration, the most common form of food fraud, has consequences for human health, ranging from mild to life-threatening conditions. Despite the potential harm and public health threats posed by food fraud, limited information on incidents causing illness has been reported. Enhancing the food control system on the Asian continent has become crucial for global health and trade considerations. Food fraud databases serve as valuable tools, assisting both the food industry and regulatory bodies in mitigating the vulnerabilities associated with fraudulent practices. However, the availability of accessible food fraud databases for Asian countries has been restricted. This review highlights detrimental food fraud cases originating in Asian countries, including sibutramine in dietary supplements, plasticizer contamination, gutter oil, and the adulteration of milk. This comprehensive analysis encompasses various facets, such as incident occurrences, adverse health effects, regulatory frameworks, and mitigation strategies.

Spice and Herb Frauds: Types, Incidence, and Detection: The State of the Art

There is a necessity to protect the quality and authenticity of herbs and spices because of the increase in the fraud and adulteration incidence during the last 30 years. There are several aspects that make herbs and spices quite vulnerable to fraud and adulteration, including their positive and desirable sensorial and health-related properties, the form in which they are sold, which is mostly powdered, and their economic relevance around the world, even in developing countries. For these reasons, sensitive, rapid, and reliable techniques are needed to verify the authenticity of these agri-food products and implement effective adulteration prevention measures. This review highlights why spices and herbs are highly valued ingredients, their economic importance, and the official quality schemes to protect their quality and authenticity. In addition to this, the type of frauds that can take place with spices and herbs have been disclosed, and the fraud incidence and an overview of scientific articles related to fraud and adulteration based on the Rapid Alert System Feed and Food (RASFF) and the Web of Science databases, respectively, during the last 30 years, is carried out here. Next, the methods used to detect adulterants in spices and herbs are reviewed, with DNA-based techniques and mainly spectroscopy and image analysis methods being the most recommended. Finally, the available adulteration prevention measurements for spices and herbs are presented, and future perspectives are also discussed.

Food fraud and mitigating strategies of UK food supply chain during COVID-19

Covid-19 had shown the vulnerability of the food supply chain and fraudsters may take advantage of the pandemic whilst the population needed a continuous supply of safe and quality food. The lack of monitoring and policing in the food supply chain may encourage fraudsters to upscale their operations. Previous studies had warned of a surge in fraudulent products due to COVID-19. This raised the question on whether food fraud had increased during the pandemic? This study aims to investigate food fraud during COVID-19 and how the food supply chain develops mitigating strategies against fraudulent activities. A mixed-method approach including survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted among UK food businesses. Two hundred and two agri-food businesses responded to the survey and 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The majority of the food businesses did not experience an increase of food fraud activities during COVID-19. Two thematic domains and ten sub-themes were identified from the data set. There was a heightened sense of anticipation and preparation for increased fraudulent activities during the pandemic. The main risk mitigating strategies included horizon scanning; developing and maintaining supplier relationship and assurance; understanding product characteristics, testing capabilities, conducting vulnerability assessments and training. Practical and cost-effective strategies for small and medium food businesses were recommended. This is the first empirical study on food fraud and mitigating strategies of the UK food supply chain during the pandemic. Our findings provide evidence for informing the policies and practices of the food regulatory authorities as well as best practices to protect the UK food supply chain against food fraud during exogenous shocks like COVID-19.

An advantageous application of molecularly imprinted polymers in food processing and quality control

In the global market era, food product control is very challenging. It is impossible to track and control all production and delivery chains not only for regular customers but also for the State Sanitary Inspections. Certified laboratories currently use accurate food safety and quality inspection methods. However, these methods are very laborious and costly. The present review highlights the need to develop fast, robust, and cost-effective analytical assays to determine food contamination. Application of the molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) as selective recognition units for chemosensors' fabrication was herein explored. MIPs enable fast and inexpensive electrochemical and optical transduction, significantly improving detectability, sensitivity, and selectivity. MIPs compromise durability of synthetic materials with a high affinity to target analytes and selectivity of molecular recognition. Imprinted molecular cavities, present in MIPs structure, are complementary to the target analyte molecules in terms of size, shape, and location of recognizing sites. They perfectly mimic natural molecular recognition. The present review article critically covers MIPs' applications in selective assays for a wide range of food products. Moreover, numerous potential applications of MIPs in the food industry, including sample pretreatment before analysis, removal of contaminants, or extraction of high-value ingredients, are discussed.

Enterprise Food Fraud in China: Key Factors Identification From Social Co-governance Perspective

Food fraud not only exacerbates human public health risks but also threatens the business development of food and related industries. Therefore, how to curb food fraud effectively becomes a crucial issue for governments, industries, and consumers. Previous studies have demonstrated that enterprise food fraud is subject to joint influences of factor at various hierarchical levels within a complex system of stakeholders. To address enterprise food fraud, it is necessary to identify the key such factors and elucidate the functional mechanisms, as well as systematic analysis of the interrelationships among clusters and factors. Hence, we grounded on a social co-governance perspective and investigated the food fraud key influencing factors and their interrelationships in an emerging food market – China, by using the DEMATEL-based analytic network process (DANP). Results showed that the identified key cluster was government regulation, social governance, and detection techniques. Four other key factors were also identified, including government regulatory capability and penalty intensity, expected economic benefits, maturity of market reputation mechanism, and transparency of supply chain. Policy implications from the social co-governance perspective for China and similar economies are discussed finally.

Methods to perform risk-based inspections of food companies

Risk‐based monitoring programs are increasingly applied for cost‐effective monitoring of food safety. Such programs ideally consist of three steps: risk‐ranking, risk‐based inspections, and cost‐effective monitoring. Various methods have been described to perform the first step of risk‐based monitoring. However, once the risk‐ranking has been completed, identifying the hazard‐food combinations to monitor, the frequency of inspection needs to be established based on a prioritization of food business operators (FBOs). The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of methods available for risk‐based inspections. Literature shows that FBO's food safety compliance can be assessed based on company size, historical monitoring data, and socio‐economic factors influencing compliance behavior. Non‐compliance can either be intentional or unintentional. The latter can be assessed by evaluating the food safety culture of a company. Various models—ranging from qualitative (e.g., focus groups) to quantitative (e.g., scoring)—can be used for this purpose. These models usually include an evaluation of the organizational structure (e.g., management control, communication, commitment), the technical food safety environment (e.g., hygienic design, zoning), and employee characteristics (e.g., knowledge, risk awareness). Intentional non‐compliance can be assessed using food fraud vulnerability tools. These tools incorporate factors influencing the likelihood of food fraud at the company, that is, opportunity, motivation, and (lack of) control measures. The literature indicates that either self‐assessment tools or risk matrices are applied. There is no global consensus on the methods to apply for risk‐based inspections. Depending on time and budget available as well as preferred output, one of the presented methods may be applied for prioritizing FBOs.

Detection of fraud in ginger powder using an automatic sorting system based on image processing technique and deep learning

Ginger is a well-known product in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Ginger is one of the spices which are adulterated for economic gain. The lack of marketability of grade 3 chickpeas (small and broken chickpeas) and their very low price have made them a good choice to be mixed with ginger in powder form and sold in the market. Demand for non-destructive methods of measuring food quality, such as machine vision and the growing need for food and spices, were the main motives to conduct this study. This study classified ginger powder images to detect fraud by improving convolutional neural networks (CNN) through a gated pooling function. The main approach to improving CNN is to use a pooling function that combines average pooling and max pooling. The Batch normalization (BN) technique is used in CNN to improve classification results. We show empirically that the combining operation used increases the accuracy of ginger powder classification compared to the baseline pooling method. For this purpose, 3360 image samples of ginger powder were prepared in 7 categories (pure ginger powder, chickpea powder, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% fraud in ginger powder). Moreover, MLP, Fuzzy, SVM, GBT, and EDT algorithms were used to compare the proposed CNN results with other classifiers. The results showed that using batch normalization based on gated pooling, the proposed CNN was able to grade the images of ginger powder with 99.70% accuracy compared to other classifiers. Therefore, it can be said that the CNN method and image processing technique effectively increase marketability, prevent ginger powder fraud, and promote traditional methods of ginger powder fraud detection.

Considering Fraud Vulnerability Associated with Credence-Based Products Such as Organic Food

Organic foods carry a premium price. They are credence-based foods, i.e., it is difficult for consumers to evaluate the premium aspects of organic food under normal use. In global supply chains, organic food is purchased on institutional trust (certification, logos, standards) rather than on relational trust. Relying on institutional trust makes consumers vulnerable to criminals who intentionally label conventional product as organic or develop sophisticated organized crime networks to defraud businesses and consumers. The aim of this research is to explore cases of organic fraud that are emergent from academic and gray literature searches to identify ways to strengthen future capabilities to counter illicit activities in a globalized food environment. Each case is considered in terms of perpetrator motivations (differentiated as economic, cultural, and behaviorally orientated drivers), the mode of operation (simple or organized), the guardians involved/absent, and the business and supply chain level vulnerabilities the cases highlight. The study finds that institutional trust is particularly vulnerable to fraud. Supply chain guardians need to recognize this vulnerability and implement effective controls to reduce the likelihood of occurrence. However, in some cases considered in the study, the guardians themselves were complicit in the illicit behavior, further increasing consumer vulnerability. Future research needs to consider how additional controls can be implemented, without increasing supply chain friction that will impact on food trade and supply, that can ensure consumers are purchasing what they believe they are paying for.

Standardization of a rapid quadruplex PCR method for the simultaneous detection of bovine, buffalo, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocytogenes DNA in milk

ABSTRACT The objective of the present study was to Standardize a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) protocol for the authentication of bovine and buffalo milk, and to detect the presence of Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes. For this, the target DNA was extracted, mixed, and subjected to a PCR assay. Milk samples were defrauded and experimentally contaminated with microorganisms to assess the detection of target DNA at different times of cultivation, bacterial titers, and concentration of genetic material. In addition, the protocol was tested with DNA extracted directly from food, without a pre-enrichment step. The proposed quadruplex PCR showed good accuracy in identifying target DNA sequences. It was possible to simultaneously identify all DNA sequences at the time of inoculation (0h), when the samples were contaminated with 2 CFU/250mL and with 6h of culture when the initial inoculum was 1 CFU/250mL. It was also possible to directly detect DNA sequences from the food when it was inoculated with 3 CFU/mL bacteria. Thus, the proposed methodology showed satisfactory performance, optimization of the analysis time, and a potential for the detection of microorganisms at low titers, which can be used for the detection of fraud and contamination.

A Predictive Strategy Based on Volatile Profile and Chemometric Analysis for Traceability and Authenticity of Sugarcane Honey on the Global Market

Sugarcane honey (SCH) is a syrup produced on Madeira Island and recognized by its unique aroma, a complex attribute of quality with an important influence on the final consumer's acceptance of the product, and determined by a complex mixture of a large number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) generated during its traditional making process and storage. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish the volatile profile of genuine SCH produced by a regional certified producer for seven years and compare it with syrups from non-certified regional producers and with producers from different geographical regions (Spain, Egypt, Brazil and Australia), as a powerful strategy to define the volatomic fingerprint of SCH. Different volatile profiles were recognized for all samples, with 166 VOCs being identified belonging to different chemical classes, including furans, ketones, carboxylic acids, aldehydes and alcohols. Chemometric analysis allowed (i) the differentiation between all syrups, being more pronounced between SCH and other syrups; and (ii) the identification of 32 VOCs as potential markers for the traceability and authenticity of SCH on the global market.

Which Company Characteristics Make a Food Business at Risk for Food Fraud?

Fraud can happen to any food business, but some sectors show more historical evidence of food fraud than others. This may be due to particular company characteristics that affect a company’s level of vulnerability. In the current study, we examined the relevance of the industry segment, business size, and location of food businesses on their food fraud vulnerabilities. Over 8000 food fraud vulnerability self-assessments conducted by food businesses active in 20 industry segments located in five continents were collected and the data analyzed. Results revealed that a company’s industry segment (chain and tier) affects its fraud vulnerability greatly and to a larger extent than the size of the business. The effect of industry segment on fraud vulnerability appears fairly similar across continents, whereas the effect of business size exhibits large geographical variation. The results demonstrate that those involved in animal product supply chains and end of chain nodes (catering, retail) are most vulnerable, and so are larger businesses, and businesses located in Africa and Asia. Current results imply that company characteristics are important determinants of the level of fraud vulnerability, and they may be used reversely in the future, i.e., as predictors of vulnerability.

How Do Spillover Effects Influence the Food Safety Strategies of Companies? New Orientation of Regulations for Food Safety

The food safety strategies of companies are a key point in the reduction of food safety risks. In order to encourage the evolution of food safety strategies of companies from food fraud to safety investment, this study builds an evolutionary game model, taking large and small companies as participants, to reveal the dynamic process of spillover effects influencing the choice of food safety strategies of companies. The study shows that (1) the food safety strategies of companies change from safety investment to food fraud, along with the increasing opportunity costs of safety investment. (2) The costs structure of small companies mainly determines whether the industry reaches the equilibrium of safety investment, while the costs structure of large companies mainly determines whether the industry reaches the equilibrium of food fraud. (3) Both competition effects and contagion effects encourage companies to choose safety investment. The more obvious spillover effects of incidents on food safety are, the more likely it is that companies will choose safety investments. (4) Increasing the costs to companies for incidents on food safety and reducing the opportunity cost of safety investment motivates companies to choose safety investment. Consequently, a new orientation of regulations for food safety is formed: the government should allocate different regulatory resources to counteract food fraud behaviors or technologies with a different benefit, should increase the technical costs and costs incurred from committing acts of food fraud, and should expand spillover effects of incidents on food safety.

Assessing the implementation of food defense requirements in industrial meat-based food processors

Abstract Food defense is the effort to protect food from causing harm to the consumer, including security procedures to mitigate intentional acts of adulteration. To assure entry in new markets, food companies need to develop and implement food defense strategies through third-party certification. Although there are some programs designed to assist food business operators in creating effective food defense strategies, this is still not regarded as a priority by food companies. As a first aim of this work, a first-party audit of two meat-producing industries was performed to verify the implementation of food defense requirements. The second purpose of the work was to compare vulnerabilities identified in those two food industries with the ones detected in other previously certified food units in Portugal. For such, a food defense requirements checklist was prepared for the audit and a private certification database was consulted to compare audit results with those from other food business operators certified by at least one international food defense standard. Audit results revealed that both industries were above 50% in overall compliance regarding food defense requirements; still the main vulnerabilities were related to the lack of a food defense plan, the failure to identify critical areas, ineffective warning systems and no training in food defense. Similar vulnerabilities were detected in other certified national food business operators, leading to the conclusion that implementation of food defense requirements seems to be underestimated. As an intervention strategy proposal, food defense training would be of upmost importance to get staff and managers acquainted with the concept.

Feeding fiction: Fraud vulnerability in the food service industry

This study examines fraud vulnerability in the food service industry; identifies underlying fraud vulnerability factors; and studies the differences in fraud vulnerability between casual dining restaurants, fine dining restaurants and mass caterers for four product groups. Vulnerability was assessed by an adapted SSAFE food fraud vulnerability assessment, tailored to the food service sector situation. The 15 food service operators rated high vulnerability for 40% of the fraud indicators. This is considerably more than food manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers did previously. In particular, more opportunities and fewer controls were noted. Overall fraud vulnerability was more determined by the type of food service operator than by the type of food product. Casual dining restaurants appeared most vulnerable, followed by fine dining restaurants. Mass caterers seemed the least vulnerable operators, because they had more adequate food fraud controls in place. Considering its high vulnerability, reinforcement of mitigation measures in the food service industry is urgently recommended.

Tools to combat food fraud - A gap analysis

A complex legal and institutional framework exists in the EU to ensure the safety of the feed-food chain, while such an integrated system for combating food fraud is under development. The European Commission (EC) Knowledge Centre for Food Fraud and Quality is charged with the provision of scientific insight for the policy making of EC services dealing with food fraud, and the creation of expert networks with the competent authorities of the EU Member States. To flag gaps in the existing infrastructure needed for effectively and efficiently fighting food fraud, the Centre together with the competent authorities and several EC services undertook a stocktaking exercise of what works well and which areas will need improvement. Out of several focus areas, (i) the development of early warning systems, (ii) the availability of compositional databases of vulnerable foods, and (iii) the creation of centres of competence were prioritised for further action.