Food fraud is the deliberate misrepresentation of food or its ingredients for economic gain, including adulteration, substitution, mislabelling of origin and counterfeiting, and is addressed through vulnerability assessments required by GFSI certification schemes.
In trade practice
Honey, olive oil and fruit juices are among the categories with documented fraud histories; honey adulteration with sugar syrups is detected through isotope ratio analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance testing. GFSI schemes such as BRCGS and IFS Food require suppliers to complete a food fraud vulnerability assessment and maintain a mitigation plan. Buyers may request sight of the assessment and authenticity test results as part of supplier approval. EU authorities investigate suspected fraud through the Administrative Assistance and Cooperation system.
In a specification
A supplier approval document may require a completed food fraud vulnerability assessment, a mitigation plan and, for high-risk categories such as honey, authenticity test certificates from an accredited laboratory.