Food Defense

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With regard to the recently recalled, lead-contaminated applesauce packages that have caused lead poisoning among dozens of children, Jim Jones, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), recently shared that the agency’s leading theory is economically motivated adulteration of cinnamon used in the products.

This article provides a future-oriented perspective on comprehensive food safety programs that harness multi-layered sensor technology and artificial intelligence (AI). The program described begins with biosurveillance at the producer level and seamlessly extends to the retail food sector.

A protocol for the collection of honey reference samples for the creation of authenticity databases has been developed by the UK Government. Honey is one of the food commodities most subject to food fraud.

Scientists have developed a small, easy-to-produce, and cost effective sensor that can detect water adulteration of honey, a commodity that is often the subject of fraudulent food production practices.

Europol has drawn attention to an increasing trend of food fraudsters relabeling expired goods after operation OPSON Europe—a Europol-INTERPOL joint operation targeting fake and substandard food and beverages—found relabeled expired products at an “unprecedented scale.” Overall, €30 million euros worth of illicit foods weighing 8,000 tons were seized between December 2022 and April 2023. 

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA’s) Food Fraud Working Group has published proposals to strengthen the collective public-private response to food crime. FSA also released new research on the cost of food crime and prevention strategies.

Information sharing is an important function for a Food and Agriculture Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FA-ISAC), which links business and government through "active collaboration,"  thereby strengthening the ability of the food and agriculture industries to withstand challenges and threats.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has identified eight emerging risks, ranging from vitamin D overdoses to increasingly important foodborne pathogens and toxins, in a recently published technical report summarizing the agency’s emerging risk identification activities for 2021.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) recently published the findings of a targeted surveillance sampling program conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify emerging food safety risks and increase knowledge of the food system.

In 2012, the Consumer Goods Forum’s Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) began the development of a standardized process for assessing and managing food fraud incidents, which has since been adopted across the food industry.