The European Commission recently published a dashboard that maps all food fraud cases covered in the Joint Research Center (JRC’s) monthly food fraud reports since 2016, including more than 2,000 cases and counting.
In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Dr. John Spink and Dr. Roy Fenoff about an often misunderstood but urgent topic—food fraud, and specifically how to prevent it in complex supply chains. They also discuss their upcoming food fraud workshop and certificate course to be held the 2026 Food Safety Summit.
The 14th annual Operation OPSON, led by Europol to crack-down on counterfeit and substandard food and beverages circulating the EU, resulted in the seizure of 11.6 million kilograms of food and 1.4 million liters of beverages.
A UK Government report calls attention to the increasing volume of illegally imported meat and dairy to Great Britain, which is often unsafe and unhygienic, posing foodborne illness and zoonotic disease risks. It recommends a coordinated approach to tackling illicit imports.
A study has found that the majority of shark meat sold in the U.S. is mislabeled, and can oftentimes be the meat of endangered species that are dangerously high in mercury, like hammerhead.
In a testing and sampling assignment conducted from 2022–2024 to determine the prevalence of economically motivated adulteration among imported frozen seafood, FDA found that 36 percent of the samples were violative for short weighting.
The UK Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit (FSA’s NFCU) have arrested four people involved in the distribution and sale of mixed rice in counterfeit “premium basmati” packaging.
Beginning September 1, the “Failure to Prevent Food Fraud” corporate offence under the UK Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act will make it so that large businesses can be held criminally accountable for acts of food fraud committed by an individual within the organization.
In the third case involving the illegal sale of “smokie” meat in the UK within the last year alone, the UK Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit (FSA’s NFCU) has secured a confiscation order of more than £30,000 for the placing of unsafe food on the market.
The FSPCA Intentional Adulteration Vulnerability Assessment (IAVA) course is one way to meet FDA’s requirement for a "Food Defense Qualified Individual."
