A new article has been published that assessed MedISys-FF system (publicly available) for its suitable as an early warning tool for food fraud.
The study, we analyzed food fraud cases collected by MedISys-FF over a 6-year period (2015–2020) and showed global trends and developments in food fraud activities. In the period investigated, the system collected 4375 articles on food fraud incidents from 164 countries in 41 different languages.
Fraud with meat and meat products were most frequently reported (27.7%), followed by milk and milk products (10.5%), cereal and bakery products (8.3%), and fish and fish products (7.7%).
Most of the fraud was related to expiration date (58.3%) followed by tampering (22.2%) and mislabeling of country of origin (11.4%). Network analysis showed that the focus of the articles was on food products being frauded. The validity of MedISys-FF as an early warning system was demonstrated with COVID-19. The system has collected articles discussing potential food fraud risks due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The paper concludes that MedISys-FF is a very useful tool to detect early trends in food fraud and may be used by all actors in the food system to ensure safe, healthy, and authentic food.
Read the full article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2022.108961
MedISys-FF (MEDISYS) can be accessed in the 'Tools' section of the Food Authenticity Network.