Food fraud, food adulteration, food crime, food integrity, food authenticity and food counterfeiting are all commonly applied terms to a problem that has existed since the commercialisation of food. Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), FSA (Food Standards Agenc)y and FSS (Food Standards Scotland) commissioned the Food Authenticity Network, via LGC, to undertake an examination of published literature to identify the major definitions related to food fraud and global standardisation activities in this area (with a focus on terminology and testing methods).
The project has identified:
- Ten commonly cited food fraud definitions in the scientific literature, and ten common food fraud definitions identified in the non-scientific literature
- Definitions for economically motivated adulteration (EMA), food authenticity, food integrity and food crime.
- Definitions for eleven different types of food fraud with examples.
- Five standardisation organisations currently engaged in activities to standardise terminology and testing methods.
You can read the report here, and it will be added to the Research section of the website
