News

The latest version of this regular free round-up of US and Canadian regulation in the food industry, from legal firm DLA Piper, has been published on the Lexology blog platform.

August's edition includes commentary on:

• Plans to reorganise the USDA
• New senior appointments at USDA and FDA
• CFIA inspection frequency of Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) licensed premises
• FDA releases new food toxicity screening tool
• FDA food traceability compliance deadline extended to 2028
• FDA-commissioned report: "Roadmap to Produce Safety: Summary Report of the Produce Safety Dialogue"
• Saskatoon Farm foodborne illness outbreak linked to contaminated water.
• FDA moves to reclassify a synthetic opioid derived from kratom as a controlled substance
• FDA announces 2026 user fees for VQIP and TPP.
• FDA proposes amending Standard of Identity for pasteurized orange juice
• Canada-Australia beef trade reopens after 20-year ban.
• Brazilian coffee companies redirect coffee sales to China in response to US tariffs
• US tariffs may hurt US chocolate producers
• Misleading “Made in Canada” branding prompts scrutiny of grocer compliance
• Federal lawsuit targets Oregon’s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act
• CDC: Americans get more than half of their calories from ultra-processed foods.
• IFIC report: consumer confidence in safety of the food supply is at a 13-year low
• Avian flu update.

Headlines:

• Food fraud reports published by global regulatory agencies during 2023 do not provide evidence of a consistent, significant trend during 2023.
• The activity associated with official food fraud and food safety reports remained fairly consistent across the four quarters of 2023.
• The top three commodities with the most food fraud reports varies depending on the source of reports and the tool used:
• Using official reports only, ‘Fruit, vegetables & legumes’, ‘Milk & diary products’ and ‘Beverages’ are the top three.   
• Using official, media & peer reviewed publication reports, ‘Honey’, ‘Herbs & Spices’ and ‘Meat & Poultry’ are the top three.
• The number of official food fraud reports published, by an average of thirty-six sources, is very low at only ~9% of food safety reports.
• Botanical origin fraud was the most reported type of food fraud in 2023, followed by dilution or substitution, and animal origin fraud.

FAN has collaborated with the providers of three leading commercial food fraud incident collation tools (FoodChain ID Food Fraud Database, HorizonScan and Safety HUD) to produce this report, which provides a summary of global food fraud reports in 2023. This report is the first annual report to be produced for this FAN Partner project. 

We are grateful to our Partners (McCormick & Company, Dr Ehrenstorfer and LGC Axio, Tenet Compliance & Litigation, the Food Industry Intelligence Network, the Institute of Food Science & Technology, SSAFE, Tesco, and BRCGS (LGC Assure)) for funding this work.

For 2024, Gold and Platinum FAN Partners will be sent a quarterly dashboard at the end of each quarter.

Read full report.