- Premiumlab’s guide to preventing food fraud
- USP Food Fraud Mitigation Guidance
- CIEH Counter Fraud Good Practice Guide for Food and Drink Businesses
- Food Supply Chain Vulnerability: A Ti whitepaper in partnership with RQA Group
- Guidance on Authenticity of Herbs and Spices: Industry best practice on assessing and protecting culinary dried herbs and spices
- Guide to working in partnership with the UK National Food Crime Unit
- PAS 96:2017, Guide to protecting and defending food and drink from deliberate attack
- FDF Food Authenticity Guide 2024
- GFSI Tackling food fraud through food safety management systems
- Nestle Food Fraud Prevention Booklet
- FSSC 22000 Guidance on Food Fraud Mitigation
- FSA & FSS Root Cause Analysis Course
- SSAFE Food Crime Prevention Lecture Series
- IFS Guideline Product Fraud
- FAO booklet on Food fraud - Intention, detection and management
- Insider Risk Mitigation Programs Food and Agriculture Sector Implementation Guide
- Heads of the National Agencies - European Commission
- safefood guide: Protect your business from food fraud
- IFST Guide to Pinch Point Mapping and Analysis
- Food Fraud Prevention Section of PTNPA Handbook for Safe Processing of Nuts (4th Edition)
- Sampling protocol for the collection of honey reference samples
- UK Food Standards Agency. Food Crime: Guidance for Businesses
- Weight of Evidence Toolkit
1. Premiumlab’s guide to preventing food fraud
Premiumlab, S.L. created this guide to cover the requirements of the food industry regarding control of food fraud, a problem that is a focal point for consumers, the industry and the government.
Premiumlab aims to facilitate fraud prevention work in food industries by offering them a tool that can be used and integrated into their Hazard Analysis and Critial Control Points System.
For the guide visit: http://agricultura.gencat.cat/
Top ^^
2. USP’s Food Fraud Mitigation Guidance
USP’s Food Fraud Mitigation Guidance provides a clear framework to help identify vulnerabilities in ingredient supply chains and implement a control plan that mitigates risk.
Their Customized Training and Advising Services Include:
- Developing an EMA preventive control plan
- General training on food fraud mitigation - One-day or partial day courses, on-site or remote, on the basic steps of food fraud mitigation
- Advice on existing food fraud mitigation plans - We will assess your existing plan, and advise on every aspect, from supplier audit strategies to testing strategies.
USP possess the right expertise (e.g., Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls (HARPC), FSMA and GFSI) for the practical application of food fraud mitigation strategies to help meet industry needs as well as national and international regulatory requirements.
For the guide visit http://www.usp.org/
Top ^^
3. CIEH Counter Fraud Good Practice Guide for Food and Drink Businesses
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has produced the Counter Fraud Good Practice Guide for Food and Drink Businesses, which helps food and drink businesses adopt established counter fraud good practice.
The good practice guidance was developed by CIEH Food in collaboration with the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Counter Fraud Studies, the Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit, Food Standards Scotland’s Food Crime and Incidents Unit, and the Intellectual Property Office.
To better protect themselves, CIEH is urging the industry to adopt proactive and comprehensive counter fraud strategies based on reliable evidence of the nature and scale of all fraud risks facing the organisation. This approach would mean the industry would have to think wider than just focusing on known fraud issues related to products or ingredients.
These strategies should be incorporated as essential processes, alongside payroll and HR, and could include:
- Calculating the financial cost of fraud based on reliable estimates, including detected and undetected instances
- Ensuring counter fraud tactics are centrally managed, with sufficient authority to secure necessary changes
- Conduct proactive and regular counter fraud exercises early rather than waiting for problems to be reported
- Develop an anti-fraud culture, which ensures robust, deterrent, action is taken when issues are identified
- Making use of the skills and experience of accredited counter fraud professionals and engaging with Government organisations, such as the Food Standard Agency’s National Food Crime Unit, to ensure the overall fight against fraud is strengthened.
For the guide visit: http://food.cieh.org
Top ^^
4. Food Supply Chain Vulnerability: A Ti whitepaper in partnership with RQA Group
Vulnerability of the food supply chain is one of the hottest topics in the international food industry. Those vulnerabilities are not limited to breaches of physical security, theft and malicious contamination by ideologues, extortionists, criminals or terrorists. In this whitepaper,Transport Intelligence’s (Ti) CEO, Professor John Manners-Bell, and Managing Director, RQA Group, Vince Shiers Ph.D., offer insight into the vulnerability of the food supply chain by highlighting the threats and offering analysis of the best practice for securing the supply chain.
For the guide visit: http://www.rqa-group.com/
Top ^^
5. Guidance on Authenticity of Herbs and Spices: Industry best practice on assessing and protecting culinary dried herbs and spices.
The global market for herbs and spices is complex with diverse supply chains and products being sourced from a variety of businesses ranging from large scale producers to smallholders.
This guidance was developed by a Joint Industry Working Group comprised of representatives of the British Retail Consortium, Food and Drink Federation and Seasoning and Spice Association, in liaison with the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland to provide Industry Best Practice Guidance on vulnerability assessment for culinary dried herbs and spices (including blends), in order to mitigate against potential adulteration and substitution.
It is focussed on the authenticity of herbs and spices and therefore does not cover general food safety controls. However, food safety and labelling requirements still apply.
It is prudent for users also to consider the potential for cross-contamination as a part of Good Agricultural and Manufacturing Practices, which are beyond the scope of this document.
For the guide visit: https://www.fdf.org.uk/herbs-spices-guidance.aspx
Top ^^
6. Guide to working in partnership with the UK National Food Crime Unit
The UK National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) has produced a guide for working in partnership with the food industry to respond to the challenge of food crime. The guide explains the role of the NFCU in the fight against food crime, how the NFCU can support industry, and how in turn industry can support the NFCU to enhance the UK’s resilience and response to food crime in its many forms.
The NFCU aims to create a culture in which everyone is able and confident to share even minor suspicions of wrongdoing. The food industry can help by promoting the ethical and commercial imperatives to flag up suspicions, within or outside their own business. Working with the NFCU, whether by sharing specific fraud concerns or by collaborating on new ways of designing out fraud vulnerability, will help the UK food sector remain both safe and economically prosperous. This benefits businesses and consumers alike.
For the guidance visit:
https://www.food.gov.uk/about-us/working-with-industry-against-food-crime
Top ^^
7. PAS 96:2017, Guide to protecting and defending food and drink from deliberate attack
This PAS was sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Its development was facilitated by BSI Standards Limited and it was published under licence from The British Standards Institution. It came into effect on 16 November 2017.
This PAS provides guidance on the avoidance and mitigation of threats to food and food supply. It describes a risk management methodology, Threat Assessment Critical Control Points (TACCP), which can be adapted by food businesses of all sizes and at all points in food supply chains.
It is intended to be of use to all organizations, but may be of particular use to managers of small and medium sized food enterprises who may not have easy access to specialist advice.
Access the full guide.
Top ^^
8. 2024 FDF Food Authenticity: Five Steps to Help Protect your Business from Food Fraud
This simple guide, sets out a step-by-step process to help food and drink manufacturing businesses of all sizes protect their businesses from food fraud by helping them to identify, prioritise and manage upstream supply chain authenticity risks.
Alongside this guide, further resources are also available on the FDF website
Top ^^
9. The Global Food Safety Initiative on tackling food fraud through food safety management systems
THE GFSI REQUIREMENTS ON FOOD FRAUD
The GFSI Position Paper outlines a starting point consistent with other quality management practices:
“The GFSI Board has decided to follow the recommendations of the Food Fraud Think Tank and
proposes to incorporate the two food fraud mitigation steps in the form of two new key
elements in the GFSI Guidance Document to:
1. Require a company to perform a food fraud vulnerability assessment”
2. Have a control plan in place.”
This was translated into 3 key elements added to part III of the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements version 7.2 stated below.
1. Food fraud vulnerability assessment
2. Food fraud mitigation plan 3. Food fraud mitigation plan
Download our latest technical document on food fraud to learn more.
Top ^^
10. Nestle Food Fraud Prevention Booklet
The food industry considers the safety of its products as its main concern. Over the years, industry and regulators have developed food safety management systems, making major outbreaks of food poisoning now quite unusual in many countries. These systems typically use Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles, which are accepted globally. HACCP has proven to be effective against accidental contamination.
However, HACCP principles have not been routinely used to detect or mitigate deliberate, fraudulent actions on a system or process. These actions include the deliberate contamination of food, or food fraud.
No process can guarantee that food and food supply are not the target of criminal activity. The purpose of this booklet is to guide food operators through approaches and processes to improve the resilience of supply chains to food fraud. It provides guidance on how to assure the authenticity of food by minimising vulnerability to fraud and mitigating the consequences of food fraud.
Top ^^
11. FSSC 22000 Guidance on Food Fraud Mitigation
The FSSC 22000 Food Safety System Certification provides a framework for effectively managing your organization's food safety responsibilities. FSSC 22000 is fully recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and is based on existing ISO Standards.
The relevance of Food Fraud has grown over the last years, not in the least following a number of food scandals that have led to reduced consumer confidence in the Food Industry.
Although the driver of Food Fraud acts (cause) is economic gain, it may nevertheless result in a food safety risk. Such a risk is very often caused by negligence or lack of knowledge by fraudsters.
For Food Manufacturers, the economic impact can be high (e.g. recall, loss of sales, cost of re-building reputation etc.), but also the consumer trust is important, not only for companies but for food industry (sector) as a whole.
Following the GFSI benchmarking requirements, FSSC 22000 has introduced a chapter on Food Fraud mitigation in the latest version of the Scheme (v4.1). This has become mandatory from January 1, 2018 and includes requirements for a Food Fraud Vulnerability Assessment and a Food Fraud Prevention Plan applicable to all products.
FSSC 22000 Guide.
Top ^^
12. FSA & FSS Root Analysis Cause Course
Our free online Root Cause Analysis for Food Businesses course developed with Food Standards Scotland explores the method of problem-solving that identifies the causes of faults or problems in the food supply chain. Access online coure: https://rcatraining.food.gov.uk/#module-menu-fbo
Top ^^
13. SSAFE Food Crime Prevention Lecture Series
In order to help the food sector to continue strengthening its efforts in preventing food crime, SSAFE has partnered with five leading experts to develop a free educational video series. Dr. John Spink, Dr. Chris Elliott, Dr. Wim Huisman, Jason Bashura and Neal Fredrickson take us on a journey through the world of food fraud, food defence and food integrity – what it is, what the issues are, what is being done, and what can be done in the future in order to help reduce and prevent food crime from occurring.
Access lecture series: https://www.ssafe-food.org/masterclasses/ssafe-lecture-series-in-food-crime-prevention
Top ^^
14. IFS Guideline Product Fraud
In addition to legislative requirements, industry bodies such as the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) have driven for food safety schemes, such as IFS, to introduce and implement systems to mitigate the risk of food fraud.
IFS incorporated the need for product fraud mitigation measures to meet the requirements of GFSI benchmarking requirements document Version 7.1 in several of their Standards since product fraud can occur at any point within the food supply chain.
This guideline has been designed to assist users of IFS Standards to understand the concept of risk management in relation to product fraud threats and how vulnerability assessments are an integral part of the risk management process.
The IFS guidance on Product Fraud mitigation can be accessed at:
https://www.ifs-certification.com/images/standards/ifs_food6/documents/IFS_Guideline_Product_Fraud_Mitigation_V21_EN.pdf
The guideline is also available in other languages (Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Turkish), which can be downloaded from the Standards section of the IFS website.
Top ^^
15. FAO booklet on Food fraud - Intention, detection and management
This concise resource explains the key aspects of food fraud, and discusses a set of measures that food safety authorities can take to stop food fraud. Among these, legal interventions combined with the use of new technologies are promising tools.
Examples of these interventions, such as adopting a definition for food fraud and implementing food standards as well as applying DNA barcoding and blockchain technology, are included in the booklet. Links are readily available in the booklet for those who wish to have greater know-how on the guidance on food labelling, technological interventions and food import and export certification systems provided by FAO and the Codex Alimentarius.
Download the publication:
FAO Food safety toolkit booklet 5 - Food fraud – Intention, detection and management
Top ^^
16. Insider Risk Mitigation Programs Food and Agriculture Sector Implementation Guide
The US National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) and the Department of Defense’s Center for Development of Security Excellence (CDSE) have published a risk mitigation guide to help organizations in the food industry understand insider risks, establish insider risk programs, and develop mitigation strategies.
The “Insider Risk Mitigation Programs: Food and Agriculture Sector Implementation Guide” was developed in collaboration with federal partners and stakeholders, including the FDA.
Top ^^
17. Heads of the National Agencies - Europea Commission
The Heads of the National Agencies dealing with food safety, animal health and welfare, plant health and consumer protection aim to:
- Exchange views and adopt best practices on how to ensure safety during production, distribution, import and export of food, animals, plants and consumer products by a regular control, inspection, sampling and analysis,
- Exchange views and adopt best practices on how to ensure implementation and enforcement of European legislation as well as international and national rules by the business operators in the participating countries,
- Promote collaboration and networking between competent authorities of participating countries in order to verify compliance with food law and enforce legislation,
- Exchange views on the best practices for the management of Agencies and an exchange of experiences, which will be beneficial for an improvement of efficiency and effectiveness and will improve harmonisation of the enforcement within the EU.
Visit the website.
Top ^^
18. safefood guide: Protect your business from food fraud
safefood has produced a guide for food manufacturing businesses to help protect their businesses from food fraud.
The guide is open access and is available at Protect your business from food fraud | safefood
Top ^^
19. IFST Guide to Pinch Point Mapping and Analysis
Business continuity planning has never been more important for all food businesses, from multinational corporations operating across the world, to micro food businesses developing food products and meeting the needs of local customers. Every food business has its unique continuity challenges, whether associated with particular food ingredients, packaging or materials, used in their processes, location, relationships with its supply chain or final market or consumer trends.
Read the IFST Guide to Pinch Point Mapping and Analysis.
Top ^^
20. Food Fraud Prevention Section of PTNPA Handbook for Safe Processing of Nuts (4th Edition)
This section has been created as a stand-alone, comprehensive overview and guide for the the Peanut and Tree Nut Processors Association (PTNPA) members to address food fraud prevention.
This handbook provides a step-by-step approach for completing a Vulnerability Assessment and Critical Control Point Plan (VACCP) and concludes with a practical method for “Implementing a Management System” and “Integration into the Food Safety Management System.”
Read the PTNPA, Peanut and Tree Nut Processors Association, Handbook for Safe Processing of Nuts (4th Edition).
21. Sampling protocol for the collection of honey reference samples.
The Government Chemist with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have published a protocol, the first of its kind in the world, which defines a practical and pragmatic process for obtaining reference samples at different points in the honey supply chain, and specifies what associated records, documents and other considerations are necessary for a sample to be deemed acceptable for inclusion in a honey authenticity database. The sampling protocol can be accessed here.
Top ^^
22. UK Food Standards Agency. Food Crime - Guidance for Businesses
This webpage summarises the steps that food businesses should take to reduce the risk of falling victim to food crime, and how to spot the signs of crime. It includes a section specifically for small businesses. There is a section on how to report crime, and many links to other useful resources.
Top ^^
23. Weight of Evidence Toolkit
This document provides a structured outline on how to approach a weight of evidence assessment to verify the authenticity of food and drink samples where there is no single confirmatory test result available.
It has been developed by a sub-group of Defra’s Authenticity Methods Working Group (AMWG), drawing on analytical testing, enforcement, and food industry expertise.
Access the Weight of Evidence Toolkit.
Top ^^
