Food Defense

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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."

Part 5 of this article series explores the mitigation of cognitive security threats in social media.

The UK National Food Crime Unit’s (NFCU's) Control Strategy for 2025–2026 outlines the unit’s current food crime priorities, bringing focus to its efforts to “prevent food crime, deter and disrupt food criminals, and bring offenders to justice.”

Food safety experts say the ability to enter and search premises immediately following the arrest of food fraud suspects will make it much more difficult for criminals to dispose of incriminating evidence and cover their tracks.

In an April 25 speech, UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) Chief Executive Katie Pettifer described efforts FSA is taking to improve meat industry regulation, including supporting the adoption of new technologies, negotiating international trade agreements, addressing inspector and veterinarian workforce shortages, evaluating inspection charge discounts, and tackling food crime.

Part 4 of this article series explores techniques to identify and mitigate threats emerging from compromised business credentials.

Protecting Italian honey authenticity and combatting food fraud, the Italian Standards Body’s (UNI’s) new UNI 11972 standard introduces a new analytical method for detecting honey adulteration based in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technology.

After an investigation by the UK Food Standards Agency, four men and one business have been convicted for diverting meat and animal byproducts that were deemed unsafe for human consumption back into the human food market.

In April, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) will host a four-part virtual workshop series on food fraud prevention, with a focus on supply chain disruptions and Enterprise Risk Management. The workshop will be led by food fraud expert John Spink, Ph.D.