Food fraud, food adulteration, food crime, food integrity, food authenticity and food counterfeiting are all commonly applied terms to a problem that has existed since the commercialisation of food. Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), FSA (Food Standards Agenc)y and FSS (Food Standards Scotland) commissioned the Food Authenticity Network, via LGC, to undertake an examination of published literature to identify the major definitions related to food fraud and global standardisation activities in this area (with a focus on terminology and testing methods).
You can read the report here, and has been added to the Research section of the website.
The information from this project was sent to the following standardisation groups:
- Working Group 1 (Concepts, terms, and definitions) of CEN Technical Committee 460 (Food Authenticity). This group has now concluded with the publication of standard:
BS EN 17972:2024 Food authenticity. Food authenticity and fraud. Concepts, terms and definitions.
- The Chair of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) electronic working group on food fraud tasked with producing ‘Guidance on the Prevention and Control of Food Fraud’ for reference.
The most commonly used definitions for food fraud and related terms have been reproduced on this page.