Is Your Food a Fraud? Has the Pandemic Made Food Fraud More Attractive?

With supply chain disruptions and economic factors at play during and following the pandemic, opportunities for food fraud may be on the rise. That means products and ingredients, like alcoholic beverages, oils and fats, honey, maple syrup, coffee and many others that are historically known to be at an increased risk for fraud, may be even more susceptible. During a recent webinar and blog, we asked “How Do I Assess Whether My Supply Chain is at Risk of Food Fraud?”

Supply Chain Changes

Our own Alma Delia Hernández, Manager, IFS Logistics, Certification Services, says the pandemic has affected the supply chain in a variety of ways, each of which provides incentive and motivation for criminals to commit food fraud. In her “Food fraud is not only an economic drain but also a supply chain safety concern” interview with Food Engineering, she outlined four main causes: Lockdowns, Shortage of Materials, Globalization, and a Loss of Consumer Purchasing Power.

So what can be done?

In this “Preventing food fraud and adulteration” piece with Food Safety Strategies, Earl Arnold, Manager, Food Defense/FSMA, Operations, Quality Assurance, offered his expertise. To identify, control and eliminate food fraud from occurring in your supply chain, begin by thinking like a fraudster. We summarized his insights in this free six steps to mitigate food fraud".

During his recent “Food Safety Fridays” webinar with the International Food Safety & Quality Network, Arnold offered his perspective on differences in food fraud between the U.S. and Europe. He identified the types of food fraud in relation to food safety, along with examples and regulations from the U.S., European Union and the United Kingdom. He also reviewed the process of conducting a vulnerability assessment for food fraud and some general mitigation strategies.

Interactive Online Training

To learn more about food fraud and how you can mitigate it in your supply chain, join us for Food Fraud: Risk Assessment and Mitigation, a virtual, instructor-led seminar being hosted Oct. 22-23. In today's global food supply, companies are vulnerable to product substitution and economically motivated adulteration, so companies need documented processes to manage these vulnerabilities. This seminar will challenge how you would handle fraudulently compromised products in your supply chain with the help of our case study-based food fraud training.

We’ll be hosting “Food Fraud” and numerous other virtual seminars through the end of the year to help meet your training goals.

Should you have any questions or need additional information, please email us at info@aibinternational.com.