Olives coloured with copper sulphate. Counterfeit sugar contaminated with fertilizer. Horse meat in beef lasagne. Melamine in milk powder.

Together with the usual cases of substitution in seafood, spices and herbs, through to diluted olive oil and honey, food fraud to optimize profit is here to stay. Increasing food prices and an ever more complex global food supply chain present an irresistible opportunity for fraudulent activity.

Food fraud is the intentional adulteration, dilution, substitution, mislabelling, parallel trade, theft or counterfeiting of food ingredients or products for financial gain. The impact of food fraud ranges from harmful adulteration potentially resulting in illness or death, to unethical substitution of inferior products which can destroy brand reputation or even the reputation of an entire exporting country. In all cases, the consumer does not get exactly what they expected or what they have paid for.

How to identify food fraud threats

Food fraud has always been present, however, in the past, it was largely a sporadic threat to a small number of high-value food items. And, with food fraud investigations and prosecutions by inter-agency, cross-border authorities getting increased attention in the media, consumers are growing wary.

Anticipating food fraud threats requires you to think like an opportunist. If there is money to be made by fraudulent activities, then the who, when and how need to be identified. There is industry consensus that a combination of Threat Assessment Critical Control Point (TACCP) and Vulnerability Assessment Critical Control Point (VACCP) assessments, together with food safety (HACCP) assessments are necessary to manage this risk.

However, there are gaps in the current industry knowledge and skills to consistently apply the methodology and tools and, as such, the resulting assessments may not identify or correctly prioritize the threats. As we have seen with HACCP, it will take time for the methodologies and tools to filter through all levels of the food supply chain.

To read more on the topic of supply chain resilience in the food agriculture sector, click here.

Researching threats and vulnerabilities unique to your product, ingredients, process and supply chain are time-consuming. The amount of information on previous incidents may be overwhelming. Alternatively, there may be no precedent to substantiate a possible threat. But the lack of a precedent doesn’t suggest that an ingredient is not vulnerable. Your ingredient may be the one to set a precedent.

The threat will be dependent on the type of ingredient and its form, with powdered ingredients being at the highest risk. Other threats are more economic in nature. They can be the result of:

• Unexpected changes to crop yields due to unpredictable weather trends and patterns

• Supply/demand imbalances

• The escalating commodity of raw material prices

• Currency fluctuations impacting long-range futures buying/selling of commodities

All of these situations can foster the economic environment for fraudulent behaviour to sprout.

The importance of standards in food fraud prevention

PAS 96 improves the resilience of all parts of production and supply chain against attack.

PAS 96 covers multiple types of attackers and addresses a number of specific threats. The TACCP (Threat Assessment Critical Control Points) process assumes and builds on a business’ existing effective operation of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points), as many precautions taken to assure the safety of food, are likely to also deter or detect deliberate acts.

Another standard that can help organizations prevent food fraud is BS EN ISO 9001 is the internationally recognized Quality Management System (QMS) standard that can benefit any size organization. Designed to be a powerful business improvement tool, implementing BS EN ISO 9001 can help you to:

• Continually improve, streamline operations and reduce costs

• Win more business and compete in tenders

• Satisfy more customers

• Be more resilient and build a sustainable business

• Show you have strong corporate governance

• Work effectively with stakeholders and your supply chain

Download our infographic to discover all the key standards for food processing and supply chain management.

The future of food fraud prevention

Systems to manage food fraud will lead to an increased awareness of specific high-risk ingredients.

The success of these systems will depend on the proactive management of potential threats, while still allowing access to high-quality, globally sourced ingredients at competitive prices. It will be essential that all sectors of the food supply chain have a sustainable yet effective system to identify and manage food fraud threats in a constantly changing market. It’s also anticipated that there will be dedicated people in companies to specifically monitor food fraud, together with the development of new technologies for tracking specific food ingredients and products in the global supply chain. Capacity building of staff to equip them with the knowledge and skills to actively consider food fraud in a measured way will be the key to future success.

Could your business and brand names cope in the face of a food fraud crisis? What measures have you taken to prevent this from happening now and into the future?

Ensure your organization is protected against food fraud challenges by adding BS EN ISO 9001 and PAS 96 to your collection today.

Discover BSI Knowledge

There is no doubt that using standards can ensure the safety of your food products, building crucial trust between you and your consumers. With a BSI Knowledge subscription, food safety is at your fingertips with instant access to over 2,000 best practice documents related to the food and beverage industry. Request to learn more.