This review (purchase required) and its associated recommendations is primarily aimed at regulators and competent authorities, but also has implications for food businesses.
The aim of 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.
The authors found that 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 food business operator, supply chain, and regulatory levels for prevention are limited.
They conclude that 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.
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