The European distribution fraud (EDF) questionnaire has been created by the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) for the food industry to help fully understand potential vulnerabilities regarding EDF.

The NFCU would like to invite you to complete this questionnaire as the data captured will help in the development of bespoke materials to address these issues and share best practice amongst industry allowing food businesses to potentially develop/implement procedures to protect themselves from EDF.

The questionnaire should take no more than 10 minutes of your time. All submissions are anonymous unless you choose to provide your companies name within the questionnaire. If you have any issues accessing the questionnaire or would like to give more information after completing the questionnaire, please send an email to NFCU.Prevention@food.gov.uk 

Questionnaire Link.

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published its January 2022 Food Fraud Monthly Summary reporting food fraud incidents and investigations from around the world.

Food fraud cases reported involved:

• Bush Meat
• Breakfast Cereals
• Alcoholic beverages
• Coffee
• Seeds
• Cheese
• Wine
• Fish & Shellfish
• Vanilla-based products
• Oats
• Spices
• Pasta
• Pulses
• Meat
• Meat products
• Fruit & Vegetables
• Milk
• Fruit Juice
• Rice
• Ghee.

You can download the January 2022 Summary here.

The UK Government Chemist team, hosted at LGC, has recently had two significant scientific papers published in Nature Portfolio Journal, npj-Science of Food, highlighting the increasing complexity of honey authentication.

The papers (Honey authenticity: the opacity of analytical reports - part 1 defining the problem; and part 2, forensic evaluative reporting as a potential solution) are based on a story that appeared in the UK media in November 2020 - Supermarket brands of honey are 'bulked out with cheap sugar syrups made from rice and corn’ – after which the Food Standards Agency asked the Government Chemist to investigate the methods that underpinned the story.

The papers address the complex composition of honey, and how an interpretive system used in forensic science could help to improve evaluation of analytical findings and assessment of their strength, which, in turn, can help to make authentication of honey more robust.

The authors propose the adoption of ‘evaluative reporting’, which would see the acceptance of a formalised ‘likelihood ratio’ (LR) thought process used in forensic science for evaluation of findings and assessment of their strength. In the absence of consensus on techniques for honey authenticity, adoption of evaluative reporting will allow objective assessment, with equity to all, and a better basis to identify and address honey fraud.

A paper has been published, which reviews eight major #foodfraud #incidents and developed a framework to recognise the stages and nuances of a food-fraud 'scandal' narrative.

View full paper.

Food and You 2 is a biannual survey which measures self-reported consumer knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to food safety and other food issues amongst adults in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The survey is primarily carried out online using a methodology known as ‘push-to-web’.

Fieldwork was conducted between 28 April 2021 and 25 June 2021. A total of 6,271 adults from 4,338 households across England, Wales and Northern Ireland completed the survey.

Topics covered in the Food and You 2: Wave 3 Key Findings report include:

• Confidence in food safety, authenticity and the food supply chain  
• Concerns about food  
• Food security
• Food shopping and labelling 
• Online platforms 
• Food-related behaviours and eating habits.

Read final report and technical report.

DOI https://doi.org/10.46756/sci.fsa.ejl793

1. Job Purpose

LGC’s National Laboratories, based in Teddington, deliver a range of expert science functions and services in partnership with the UK Government, business and academia. The business unit manages and operates several national laboratories on behalf of government agencies, as well as hosting the unique function of the ‘Government Chemist’.

 As home to many world-leading scientists, LGC’s National Laboratories provide a wide range of expert analytical science services and subject matter expertise to a broad spectrum of customers, stakeholders and global forums.

 This role is an exciting full time opportunity to work across several externally facing networks; including the Community for Analytical Measurement Science and the Food Authenticity Network. Both are membership based communities aimed at promoting world-class analytical measurement science training, research and innovation by bringing together a network of industrial and academic partners with interests in these fields.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Delivery of network co-ordination activities, ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of virtual communities.
• Organise and facilitate virtual and in-person events.
• Co-ordinate Secretariat activities.
• Support note taking, recording meeting actions and decisions.
• Co-ordination of network finances, liaising with Legal and Financial Leads, as well as network members.
• Prepare stakeholder updates and digital content.
• Facilitate marketing, website and social media channel activities.
• Actively support network growth, championing activities in-keeping with networks’ strategic aims. 

3. LGC Values

The job holder will be able to demonstrate the following behaviours in line with LGC’s values:

• Passion: desire to promote and champion network aims and activities.
• Integrity: a deep seated belief in the importance of customer satisfaction and providing a professional and valued service.
• Curiosity: always striving to improve ways of working and delivering efficiencies that benefit both individual members and the broader network/community. 

4. Person Specification - Knowledge, Experience and Technical Skills

LGC is seeking an organised and personable individual, with a strong work ethic and self-motivation. The individual must have a can-do attitude, taking ownership and responsibility for driving outcomes.

As the successful candidate you will be able to demonstrate evidence of having/being:

• Prior experience (ca. 3 years) of network and/or project co-ordination.
• Able to engage professionally with a wide range of members and stakeholders.

• Comfortable working as part of an in-person and virtual team.
• Well organised with an excellent eye for detail.
• Able to multi-task and prioritise work to meet deadlines when required.
• Strong IT (Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint) and communications skills – both written and verbal.
• Experience of arranging and hosting events (both virtual and in-person).

Also desirable: Experience of web/social media design, editorial skills and producing various forms of digital content for professional purposes.

If you feel you have the skills and experience to succeed in this role, and are excited by the opportunity, we’d welcome your application. Please submit a 2 page CV and covering letter - outlining why you would like to join the team - via the LGC recruitment portal: https://lgcgroup-jobs.sabacloud.com/Saba/Web_spf/EU2PRD0129/jobs-careers/career/home/

A new POSTnote on genome edited food crops has been published by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology with contributions from Dr Malcolm Burns (Head of LGC's GMO unit), Dr Julian Braybrook and our Executive Director, Selvarani Elahi MBE.

◼ The Government is proposing that genomeedited crop plants are exempted from Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) regulations, provided the genetic changes could occur naturally or via existing conventional breeding techniques.
◼ Genome editing can manipulate DNA atspecific positions in the genome to shorten timeframes for plant breeding of useful traits. This process can lead to unintended alterations of the genome, but these may be fewer than for conventional breeding.
◼ Some stakeholders believe this regulation change for genome-edited food crops could provide health and environmental benefits and make use of UK-funded research.
◼ Key issues for public acceptance and trust of genome-edited crops are tightly bound to transparency and how the public view potential risks and benefits.

Read the full POSTnote.

John W. Spink, PhD , a Food Authenticity Network Advisory Board Member, has published a review of INTERPOL/ EUROPOL Operation OPSON IX Final Report 

While the thousands of tons of seized fraudulent product get the headlines, the most crucial result of Operation OPSON is the insight on the shifting food fraud vulnerability. The report has both general information and detailed case studies (and amazing crime scene pictures).

INTERPOL/ EUROPOL Operation OPSON IX was conducted from December 2019 and extended beyond the expected end date of April 2020 to June 2020. The next OPSON X debrief occurred in November 2021 (a future blog post will review that private meeting, and our presentation on “Food Fraud Prevention – Priority Setting to Reduce the Overall Fraud Opportunity”.) The final Operation Opson IX – Analysis Report was published in January 2021.

Read the full review here.

This report draws from a depth of data and in person interviews that will allow readers to more fully understand how the pandemic impacted global supply chains, how different companies reacted and the lasting changes that will be with us for years to come. It also analyzes other ways in which supply chains were disrupted and how the impact of these events was compounded by the pandemic

Key Points:

1. More organizations than ever are now using technology to assist with supply chain management and mapping: More than half (55.6%) of organizations are now using technology to help analyse and report on supply chain disruptions.
2. The number of supply chain disruptions organizations encountered in 2020 was higher than
   any other year in the report’s history.
3. COVID-related disruptions were more likely to occur beyond tier 1.
4. Solving the logistics puzzle has been a key challenge to organizations during 2020 – and is set
   to continue into 2021.                                                                                                                 
5. Senior management are now more engaged with supply chain issues.
6. Organizations are now more likely to interrogate the BC arrangements of critical suppliers.
7. More due diligence should be carried out pre-contract.

Read full report.

Depleting fish stocks are having a detrimental impact on the world’s biodiversity and food chain. According to INTERPOL’s environmental and maritime security teams, which coordinated a five-month intelligence-led operation (June- October 2021) spanning 34 countries and all ‘Seven Seas’, the decrease in marine living resources are also driving a surge in fisheries-related crime.

A total of 1,710 inspections carried out during the one-month tactical phase of Operation IKATERE uncovered over 100 cases of fisheries and other crimes. More than 40 arrest warrants have already been issued, while many investigations remain ongoing.

Nearly one tonne of illicit products were seized worldwide, including protected fish and wildlife species, drugs and explosives. Law enforcement in Montenegro alone recovered more than 20 cylinders of explosives during the operation.

“The use of explosives as an illegal fishing method is a growing trend amongst the industry’s unscrupulous actors, as the progressive depletion of fish stocks pushes vessels to maintain catch rates at any cost,” said Ilana De Wild, INTERPOL’s Director of Organized and Emerging Crime.

“Their use also boosts the circulation of explosives that can be used by criminal or terrorist groups. Bomb makers behind terrorist attacks in recent years have been found to also be providing explosives to the illegal fishing industry,” Ms De Wild added.

Read full article.

This report is an analysis of statistical data on food security in the United Kingdom.

It is the first in a series of reports which will be published under a new duty in the Agriculture Act 2020 to report to Parliament on food security in the United Kingdom at least once every three years.

The UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) examines past, current, and predicted trends relevant to food security, to present the best available and impartial analysis of food security in the UK, and to lay the groundwork for future Food Security Reports.

Food security is a complex and multi-faceted issue. To address the subject’s many diverse aspects, the UKFSR is structured around five principal ‘themes’, each addressing an important component of modern-day food security in the UK. They are as follows: global food availability, which describes supply and demand issues, trends and risk on a global scale, and how they may affect UK food supply;
UK food supply, which looks at the UK’s main sources of food at home and overseas; supply chain resilience, which outlines the physical, economic, and human infrastructure that underlies the food supply chain, and that chain’s vulnerabilities; household-level food security, which deals with issues of affordability and access to food; and food safety and consumer confidence, which details food crime and safety issues.

The report draws on a broad range of published statistical data from government and other sources. These quantitative sources are supplemented with case studies and qualitative analysis where necessary and helpful. In some cases, where quantitative evidence is not available due to data being limited or confidential, or where the report references recent events which are not yet reflected in published statistics, only qualitative analysis is available.

What is food security?
Food security has many dimensions. As a topic, it encompasses the state of global agriculture and markets on which the UK is reliant; the sources of raw
materials and foodstuffs in the UK and abroad; the manufacturing, wholesale, and retail industries that ultimately bring food to shelves and plates, and their complex supply chains of inputs and logistics; and the systems of inspection that allow consumers to be confident their food is safe, authentic, and of a high standard. 

Accordingly, this report examines the issue of whether the UK is food secure across five ‘themes.’

• Theme 1: Global Food Availability
• Theme 2: UK Food Supply Sources
• Theme 3: Supply Chain Resilience
• Theme 4: Food Security at Household Level
• Theme 5: Food Safety and Consumer Confidence: the activities of the Food Authenticity Network and Centres of Expertise are featured in this theme.

Read full report (pdf version) and a fully accessible HTML will be available shortly.

As this is the first in what will be a series of reports to be published, government is very happy to receive written feedback on the content of the UKFSR at foodsecurityreport@defra.gov.uk and there is also an online questionnaire you can find here.

Abstract

Maintaining the quality and safety of Australian food and fibre products for domestic and export markets is paramount. Product fraud is on the rise and has the potential to cause significant harm to Australia’s reputation for producing high-quality goods and ultimately reduce returns at the farm gate. Globally, food fraud is becoming a significant challenge, estimated to cost $40-50 billion a year, and $2-3 billion in Australia alone.

In aspiring to reach the National Farmers’ Federation’s target of $100 billion in farm gate value by 2030, Australian producers need to be able to mitigate incidents of product fraud to ensure that trust is maintained with consumers and that producers can capitalise on changing consumer and market trends.

This report, written by Deakin University, explores the range of product fraud cases – from simple substitution or incorrect labelling of a product to more sophisticated methods that result in consumers paying a premium price for a counterfeit product.

High-value products such as beef and seafood are particularly at risk of substitution, as well as the use of fillers to increase volume and mislabelling about provenance and quality. The drivers behind product fraud are commonly linked to shortages or constraint of supply in raw ingredients, and while our ability to detect fraud continues to improve, there is a need for a whole-of-supply-chain approach to combat the problem.

But while the problem is real, and on the rise, the report highlights technology solutions that exist and are ready to be deployed along the supply chain, to reduce the incidence of fraud. A plethora of solutions are needed to make an impact on global fraud. A coordinated supply chain approach is an important first step to mitigate the potential risks and protect Australia’s reputation in domestic and global markets.

Read full report.

The European Commission Joint Research Center (JRC) has published its monthly summary on articles covering food fraud and adulteration. In this November issue, there are articles on frauds involving wine, alcoholic beverages, milk and milk products, herbs and spices, cereals, meat products, seafood, cocoa, tea, fruits and vegetables, oils and honey.

Read the full summary of articles at: https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/publication/food-fraud-summary-november-2021_en

Many thanks to our Members Riccardo Siligato PhD LLM (for producing the report) and Bruno Sechet (for producing the infographic).

The European Commission published today the results of the first coordinated control plan on the authenticity of herbs and spices launched by the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety.

It has been carried out by 21 EU Member States, Switzerland and Norway, with the technical support of the Joint Research Centre, which performed nearly 10,000 analyses. The plan is the largest investigation so far into the authenticity of culinary herbs and spices in terms of participating countries and samples analysed (1885).

The main conclusions were as follows: 

• The overall rate of suspicious samples was 17% (323 of a total of 1885 analysed samples), which is less than what was previously reported in the scientific literature or by national food control institutions.
• The oregano supply chain was most vulnerable as 48% of samples were suspicious of being adulterated, in most cases with olive leaves.
• The percentage of samples which were suspicious of adulteration were 17% for pepper, 14% for cumin, 11% for curcuma, and 11% for saffron.
• The lowest suspicion rate (6%) was found for paprika/chilli.
• The majority of suspicious samples contained non-declared plant material; in 2% of the analysed spice samples non-authorised dyes were detected. One sample contained a high level of lead chromate.
• In two cumin, 45 oregano, and four pepper samples copper compounds above the relevant maximum residue limit set by Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 were found.
• No specific trend regarding the rate of potential fraudulent manipulations along the supply chain (countries of origin/importers/wholesalers/processors/packagers) could be observed. However, for certain stages (domestic production, local markets, border control, and internet) the number of samples tested was too low to enable statistically meaningful comparisons.

Read full report.

The anticipated failure of many countries to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 necessitates the assessment of science–policy engagement mechanisms for food systems transformation. 

A High Level Expert Group (EG) of the European Commission explore options for enhancing existing partnerships, mandates and resources — or reimagining a new mission — for science–policy interfaces in this paper.

The science policy interfaces (SPI) options presented in this paper provide a potential framework to promote consensus around ways to achieve independent scientific interaction with policy needs at different scales. Establishing more effective food systems SPIs will require financial and political capital and time-defined dialogues that go beyond cooperation among existing SPIs to include other actors (including national and regional governments, the private sector and NGOs). These dialogues should be shaped by openness, inclusivity, transparency, scientific independence and institutional legitimacy.

The UN Food Systems Summit held in September 2021 provided some space for this discussion, which should be furthered during the UN Climate Change Conference in the UK (COP26) and Nutrition for Growth in Tokyo. The global community must seize on this historic moment to formulate commitments that enhance SPIs and that concretely help them to support the urgently needed transformation of our food systems.

Read full paper.

The Food Authenticity Network Executive Team (Selvarani Elahi and Mark Woolfe) and the Chair of our Advisory Board, Sterling Crew have been interviewed for an episode of Bruker's Food Authenticity Podcast series.

Listen to both parts of the episode here:

• Part 1 and Part 2

 You can access other episodes in this series with the links below:

• Episode 1: Michael Roberts, Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy, discussing food authenticity and consequences of food fraud on the ecosystem.

• Episode 2: Ron Phipps, president and founder of CPNA International and Vice President of Apimondia Scientific Commission on Beekeeping Economy discussing the impact of food fraud on the honey industry and steps that have been taken to combat the sale of illicit honey.

• Episode 3: Peter Awram & Lawyer Gillian Wade exploring the problem of #honey adulteration from a perspective of both a producer and a legal expert.

• Episode 4: Gordon Burns, technical director, and co-founder of ETS Laboratories. ETS Labs has been in operation for over 40 years, and currently runs specialist independent wine analysis labs based in California’s Napa Valley - one of the United States’ premium wine growing regions
• Episode 5: Professor Michael Roberts, Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy at UCLA. Michael has been at the forefront of studies into food fraud for almost 20 years, having taught the first ever Food Law and Policy class at the University of Arkansas and Ron Phipps, Vice-President of the Apimondia Scientific Commission on Beekeeping Economy and President of CPNA International, Ltd.

The United States Food and Drug Administration has created a dedicated webpage on food fraud. The page gives information on:

• How to report food fraud
• Examples of food fraud
• How FDA fights food fraud
• Enforcement and legal consequences
• Guidance documents
• Import alerts
• Research publications
• Additional resources.

Visit the FDA Food Fraud webpage here.

JRC has published its monthly summary on articles covering food fraud and adulteration. In this October issue, there are articles on frauds involving wine, alcoholic beverages, milk and milk products, herbs and spices, cereals, vegetables, meat products, food supplements, seafood, sugar, olive oil, honey.

Read the full summary of articles at: October JRC Fraud Summary

Emerging regulations and industry standards are requiring risk and vulnerability assessments of Food Fraud as a prerequisite to countermeasures and decision-making systems.

These assessments and risk management systems are not familiar food safety tools. It is effective and efficient to utilize an enterprise risk management (ERM) framework, such as developed by the Committee of the Sponsoring Companies of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

ERM risk assessment occurs into two stages: (1) a qualitative initial screening followed by (2) a more detailed quantitative assessment. All types of Food Fraud can result in enterprise-wide risks so an enterprise risk management system must cover all types of vulnerabilities.

The model developed in this paper addresses the unmet need of the first stage referred to here as the Food Fraud Initial Screening (FFIS).

Access the full paper here.