These days, we're increasingly concerned with the origins of our food. We like to know that our eggs are free range, our fish is from a sustainable source and we may want to choose organic vegetables, or those grown locally. For these reassurances, we're prepared to pay a bit more. But are we always getting what we're paying for?
For many of us, the possibility that what we're buying in our weekly shop isn't what it says on the label will never have crossed our minds. Yet food fraud, a crime that has been around since Roman times if not longer, is a growing concern as a result of the globalisation of food production and the potential that rising food prices offer to criminals.
"A lot of food fraud goes on, but there's little awareness of it because the only data that exists relates to frauds that have been exposed," says Chris Elliott, professor of food safety at Queen's University, Belfast, which is hosting an international "food integrity" conference exploring the subject next month.
One recent estimate – based on Food Standards Agency (FSA) surveys of a number of different individual foods – suggested that food fraud could affect as much as 10 per cent of the food we buy, he adds. Which is why a growing emphasis is now being placed on food fraud detection through investigating and prosecuting alleged fraudsters, and developing sophisticated tests to determine whether a product is what it is claimed to be.
"Though food frauds can take a variety of forms – from brand counterfeiting to "honey laundering" [falsely claiming that a product, often Chinese honey, comes from somewhere else to justify a higher price] – all follow the single principle of misleading consumers for financial gain," says Dr John Spink, associate director of the Michigan State University anti-counterfeit and product protection program, who is working to define food fraud's threat to public health.
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Source: Meg Carter- The Independent
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