Food fraud
Authenticity, vulnerability assessment and real adulteration cases.
7 articles
Articles in this pillar
6 min read
What is food fraud and how is it detected in the industry?
What food fraud is, its most common types (adulteration, species substitution, false origin) and what methods can detect it.
8 min read
Analytical methods for food authenticity: DNA, isotopes and spectroscopy
How the laboratory checks whether a food is what it claims to be: PCR and DNA barcoding, stable isotopes, spectroscopy and mass spectrometry.
8 min read
Food fraud vulnerability assessment (VACCP): how it is done and what GFSI requires
What a fraud vulnerability assessment (VACCP) is, what GFSI and FSSC 22000 require, which factors to analyze and how to build the mitigation plan step by step.
8 min read
Landmark food fraud cases: melamine, horsemeat, honey and cinnamon
Melamine in milk (2008), horsemeat (2013), honey with syrups (2021-2022) and cinnamon with lead chromate (2023): what happened and what each case teaches.
7 min read
Species substitution in fish and seafood: when fraud hides a health risk
Why substituting species in fish and seafood is not just economic fraud: overlooked toxins, histamine and parasites, and how to verify it.
8 min read
Olive oil fraud: false categories, blends and how they are detected in the laboratory
How olive oil fraud is committed (false category, blends, origin), what EU data show and which laboratory parameters detect it.
11 min read
Spice and herb fraud: what European controls found and how adulteration is detected
Oregano with olive leaves, Sudan dyes and lead chromate in turmeric: findings of the EU plan analyzed by the JRC, detection methods and the Salmonella link.