DEFINITIONS

BS EN 17972:2024 Food authenticity. Food authenticity and fraud. Concepts, terms and definitions

This document provides technical definitions of terms relating to authenticity and fraud when referring to food products.

All terms and definitions are in the context of food supply chains, but most of them can also be applied when referring to feed products and the feed supply chain.

This standard was developed by CEN Technical Committee 460 (Food Authenticity) - The European Committee for Standardization is one of three European Standardization Organizations (together with CENELEC and ETSI) that have been officially recognized by the European Union and by the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as being responsible for developing and defining voluntary standards at European level.

It can be purchased through national standards bodies like BSI: British Standards Institution - Project

The illegal deception for economic gain using food encompasses deliberate and intentional substitution, addition, tampering, or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients, or food packaging; or false or misleading statements made about a product for economic gain. The types of fraud include adulteration, tampering, product overrun, theft, diversion, simulation, and counterfeiting.

Knowingly selling goods which are past their 'use by' products substituted with a cheaper alternative, for example farmed salmon sold as wild, and Basmati rice adulterated with cheaper varieties), making false statements about the source of ingredients (i.e., their geographic, plant or animal origin). Food fraud may also involve the sale of meat from animals that have been stolen and/or illegally slaughtered, as well as wild game animals like deer that may have been poached.

Food fraud is a collective term used to encompass the deliberate and intentional substitution, addition, tampering or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients or food packaging: of false or misleading statements made about a product, for economic gain.

1. Addition - The addition of non-authentic substance to mask inferior quality ingredient without the purchasers’ knowledge e.g., the addition of melamine to milk to artificially increase the apparent protein content. (Xiu and Klein, 2010).
2. Adulteration / AdulterantSubstance - Where a component of the finished product is deemed to be fraudulent e.g., the 2013 incident of the addition of undeclared horse meat in a variety of beef meat products sold in the EU. (Brooks et al., 2017). 
3. Concealment - Measures undertaken to hide undesirable product attributes, including poor quality and deterioration or dilution of a product e.g., addition of Sudan Red dyes to enhance the colour of poor‐quality paprika. (GalvinKing et al., 2020). 
4. Counterfeit - Presenting a product as something different from that which it really is e.g., using a brand label or protected designation or other mark indicating, quality (Fairtrade) or safety profile (BSI). (FSSC 22.000). 
5. Dilution - The creation of greater bulk of a product by adding cheaper substance such as dilution of premium fruit juice-based products. (Moore et al., 2012). 
6. Malicious poisoning, bioterrorism, or sabotage - Deliberate acts of bioterrorism with intent to cause harm to the consumer e.g., the deliberate poisoning of the Russian former FSB and KGB agent with tea laced with the radioactive isotope polonium-210. (Grierson, 2015). 
7. Misbranding - Presenting a product as something different from what it really is e.g. Fraudulent use of a brand label, protected designation or other mark indicating a certain religious (Halal, Kosher), quality (Fairtrade, organic) or safety profile (BSI). (FSSC 22.000). 
8. Mislabelling - Similar to misbranding but term primarily employed to indicate distortion of information provided on the product label e.g., sell by date. (Charlebois et al., 2016). 
9. Substitution - Substitution of a lower value ingredient for that of a premium e.g., in fish and seafood adulteration and where lower valued species, which may be associated with some types of food poisoning, are frequently substituted as a higher-value species (Reilly, 2018). 
10. Unapproved enhancements - The inclusion of unapproved ingredients to enhance the property of a product e.g., the inclusion of unapproved pharmaceutical ingredients in dietary supplements such as synthetic steroids or steroid-like ingredients in dietary or muscle building supplements. (Tucker et al., 2018). 
11. Unapproved processes - Manufacture of products using unapproved methods or premises e.g., beef products containing horse meat were manufactured/packed on unapproved premises, without appropriate inspection or documentation, and included products issued with fraudulent health certificates. (Robson et al., 2020b).

The Elliott Review (Elliott, 2014): “food authenticity is about ensuring that food offered for sale is of the nature, substance, and quality expected by the purchaser”.

The Elliott Review (Elliott, 2014): food integrity has been defined as food that is, “not only safe and of the nature, substance and quality expected by the purchaser but also captures other aspects of food production, such as the way it has been sourced, procured and distributed and being honest about those elements to consumers”.

The working definition of the May 2009 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Public Meeting on Economically Motivated Adulteration – as fraudulent, intentional substitution or addition of a substance in a product for the purpose of increasing the apparent value of the product or reducing the cost of its production.

In the Food Crime Strategic Assessment 2020, NFCU and SFCIU define food crime as “serious fraud and related criminality within food supply chains”.

Types of Food Crime

Seven food crime techniques have been identified by the NFCU and the SFCIU:

1. Theft: the dishonest appropriation of food, drink, or feed products from their lawful owner with an intention to benefit economically from their subsequent use or sale
2. Illegal Processing: the slaughter, preparation, or processing of products of animal origin outside of the relevant regulatory framework 
3. Waste Diversion: the unauthorised diversion of food, drink or feed intended for disposal back into relevant supply chains 
4. Adulteration: reducing the quality of a food product through the inclusion of a foreign substance, with the intention either to make production costs lower, or apparent quality higher 
5. Substitution: the replacing of a food product or ingredient with another substance of a similar but inferior kind
6. Misrepresentation: the marketing or labelling of a product so as to inaccurately portray its quality, safety, benefit, origin, or freshness 
7. Document Fraud: the use of false or misappropriated documents to sell, market or otherwise vouch for a fraudulent or substandard product.