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This study ($25 download fee) compiled 254 incidents of food adulteration reported across from 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region between 2019 and 2024, gathered from primary sources published in Arabic (85 %), English (10 %), and French (5 %). It also analysed 1261 notifications from the RASFF concerning food products originating from MENA countries during the same period.

The authors report that Lebanon and Turkey contributed the highest number of reported incidents with mislabelling (particularly expiry-date falsification) being the most common fraud.

The web-based surveillance identified 254 incidents, with Lebanon contributing to the highest number (15 %) followed by Egypt, Jorda and Iraq, while 78.9 % of all signals were classified generically as “food product’ and the most common issues involved expiration-date manipulation (62.9 %).

In the RASFF system, 1261 notifications linked to MENA-origin products were recorded, dominated by Turkey with 564 notifications (44.7 %) followed by Egypt (18 %) with alerts increasing between 2019 and 2024 and mainly triggered by contaminants (45.7 %) or unauthorized substances (16.9 %)

[Image – EverythingBen, available under Creative Commons Universal Public Domain Dedication]

This review (open access) analyses trends in reported food fraud incidents over the past 5 years and trends in detection technologies, particularly the integration of AI and digital traceability and detection systems with analytical testing.  The authors base their analysis on the EC Joint Research Centre monthly collation of food fraud media reports.

The authors highlight that food fraud is a worldwide issue, but its incidence is unevenly distributed across countries. A few countries account for a disproportionate share of reported cases. Notably, Italy has the highest number of food fraud incidents, with over 300 cases. India, and Pakistan also rank in the highest quintile, each reporting well over 150 cases. These three countries alone represent the upper 20 % bracket of fraud occurrence globally. A second tier of countries, including Spain, Brazil, Bolivia, Malaysia, Colombia, and Argentina, report a few dozen cases each.  This skewed distribution suggests that detections of food fraud are concentrated where high-risk products, and active enforcement intersect.

The authors conclude that igrating AI-based predictive analytics with traditional and emerging lab methods significantly improves fraud detection, while blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) innovations enable secure, real-time tracking of food authenticity. These technologies collectively strengthen the ability to uncover fraud

The paper emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, harmonization, and updated regulatory frameworks to support the adoption of these multi-disciplinary approaches.

This review (open access, pre-publication) collates published surveys of seafood mislabelling in Asia (the time period reviewed is not stated).  The authors list results along with the testing methodologies used, listing separate results for China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan.  Some surveys, particularly of specialist fish powders or premium smoked fish products, reported mislabelling rates of 70 or 80%.  More typical mislabelling rates for fillets sold as a single species were around 7 or 8%.