Food Fraud

Question 1

Two types of food fraud

Answer 1

adulteration and misbranding

Question 2

Definition of food fraud

Answer 2

deliberately placed food on market for financial gain to deceive the consumer

Question 3

food fraud is…. to detect in…. and…..

Answer 3

harder to detect in longer/global supply chains

Question 4

adulteration definition

Answer 4

sale of food that is unfit/harmful

‘process of lowering the nutritive value of food by removing vital components for adding substances of inferior qualtiy’

Question 5

3 examples of adulteration

Answer 5

1. recycling animal products into food chain
2. diluting beverages with water
3. adding adulterants to cover bad taste

Question 6

Reason for food fraud

Answer 6

sellers want to profit to increase food production (ear more in less time)

Question 7

what is an adulterant

Answer 7

a substance that lowers the quality of a product

Question 8

types of adulterations (and examples)

Answer 8

1. intentional [sand, water, stones]
2. incidental [pestidicde residue, rodent droppings, larvae]
3. metallic [arsenic, lead, tin from cans]

Question 9

economic effect of adulteration

Answer 9

loss of consumer trust

devastation to local markets/food buisnesses

Question 10

misbranding definition

Answer 10

prescense/absense of information on a label of a product which is false, deceptive or misleading
[deliberate misdescription]

Question 11

examples of misbranding

Answer 11

1. substituting products with cheaper variety.
2. selling beef/poultry of an unknown origin
3. false statements about ingredient source

Question 12

greek/roman adulteration

Answer 12

• athens: public wine inspector
• pliny the elder; spices/breads in rome

usually wine colouring an issue

Question 13

Arabic fraud control

Answer 13

= using scientific method by the ‘hisba’; the Muslim duty to prevent evil and promote good

• hisbah office responsible for market supervision and protection of commerce honesty
• has now spread: penalties include mocker, beating, product seizure, deportation

Question 14

case study in medieval islam of fraud

Answer 14

aromatic oils falsified with sesame oil

almond oil falsified with roated nuts/apricot kernel and sesame oil

Question 15

Frederick Accum

Answer 15

book; ‘death in the pot’ investgiated fraud of oilve oil, candies, vinegar falsified with sulfiric acid (was then deported due to enemies)

Question 16

UK parliament and fraud

Answer 16

1834: created for commiisison of inquiry into food fraud based on frederick accum– > led to the adulteration of fraud act

Question 17

emile zola

Answer 17

‘the belly of paris’ book; investigated wholesale food trade that led to french government to establish a public health service

Question 18

How was the FDA formed

Answer 18

FDA in us; by upton sinclairs investigation of meat fraud industry

Question 19

Pasta fraud

Answer 19

soft wheat flour + thickeners from animal blood sold as durum wheat semolina pasta

Question 20

Italy Methanol 1986 Scandanl

Answer 20

alcohol content in wine acidified; led do 37% decrease in wine exports and rise in health scam

led to formation of “Agricola” and slow food movement

Question 21

gutter oil

Answer 21

japan; china;

negative examples of circular economy of recycled waste oil for cooking

Question 22

Meat Glue (Transglutaminase TG)

Answer 22

meat glue(frankenstein meat)= classified by FDA as safe but not by EFSA because of bacterial contamination and food poisoning risk

Question 23

2013 Horse Meat Scandal

Answer 23

ireland had to withdraw food from market
led to consumer misconfidence
recalll
public health and food safety issue

example of misbranding

Question 24

2008 China Melamine Scandal

Answer 24

milk powder was fortified with melamine to boost protein due to water dilution but dangerous as it causes nitrogen poisoning=
hence milk/pet products all had to be recalled

Question 25

purpose of labelling

Answer 25

inform consumer of prouduct

convince consumer to buy product

Question 26

why does labelling need to be regulated

Answer 26

1. prevent fraud/misleading info

2. discolse information to make informed decision

Question 27

4 requirements of a label

Answer 27

1. identity
2. ingriedients
3. net content
4. manufactuerer, packer, distributor identity

Question 28

examples of label fraud

Answer 28

bio--> activia
toblerone--> voblerone
bari mozarella di laita/parmesan
spaghetti alfredo 
iitallian sounding food

Question 29

list some common food frauds

Answer 29

olive oil
fish
saffron
honey
vanilla
coffee
balsamic vinegar

Question 30

how is fish frauded

Answer 30

• > mislabeled (quality; cheaper variet sold as expensive)
• > type (i.e. false tuna)
• > origin (scallops made form shark)

Question 31

how is saffron frauded

Answer 31

very hard to extract (handpicked and needs a lot)
fake= tumeric, safflower, dyed onoion

to detect fake= place in water and see if coloured die comes off

Question 32

types of oilve oil

Answer 32

1. extra virgin
2. virgin
3. olive oil

Question 33

EOO properties

Answer 33

only 5% of global olive oil
first cold press
mechanically made
low acidity (0.8-1%)
no solvents/chemicals
green-gold colour

Question 34

EVO properties

Answer 34

first cold press
under 2% acidity
no solvents/chemicals

Question 35

OO properties

Answer 35

mix of virgin and refined oils
acidity under 1.5%
higher smoke point
solvents/chemicals
mechanical production

Question 36

how is olive oil frauded

Answer 36

mixed with hazelnut oil/peddle seeds

Question 37

purpose of food fraud detection tech

Answer 37

1. protect brand reputation
2. detect counterfeiting
3. public safety

Question 38

types of food fraud detection tech

Answer 38

1. authentication of products (watergrams, barcodes, invisible ink, holograms ids)
2. track + trace of products in the supply chain (electronic product codes or radio frequency IDs)