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]
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