Food Fraud report 2020

The European Food Fraud Network has published its 2020 annual report.

Fraudulent activities affecting the food chain can pose a risk to the consumer.

The number of requests for administrative assistance for suspected food fraud increased from 292 in 2019 to 349 in 2020, an increase of 20%.

Below is the number of suspected frauds by type of product:

• Oils and fats: 51 (olive oil was the most notified).
• Fish and fish products: 34 (illegal treatments: addition of undeclared water, nitrates, carbon monoxide)
• Poultry and poultry products: 28
• Honey and royal jelly: 25
• Meat and meat products (excluding poultry): 25
• Food supplements, enriched foods, dietetic foods: 22
• Fruit and vegetables: 21
• Wines and alcoholic beverages: 12
• Plant protection products: 11
• Cephalopods, crustaceans and derived products: 10
• Herbs and spices: 9
• Milk and dairy products: 8
• Other products: 43

Five types of non-compliance were listed:

• 37% concern mislabelling, for example when non-extra virgin olive oil is presented as extra virgin.
• 25% concern falsification of documents or traceability problems.
• 21% concern substitution/dilution/addition/removal in the product: this refers to the process of mixing or replacing a high value ingredient with a low value one, such as watering down wine.
• 13% on unapproved treatment and/or process: tuna treated with nitrite.
• 4% on infringement of intellectual property rights: this refers to counterfeit products.

Adulteration is the third most common cause of fraud with 21% of cases.

Phytocontrol can provide you with solutions to authenticate your products.

The laboratory is able to offer 3 types of analysis using NGS technology:

• Meat packs (more than 6000 species)
• Fish packs (more than 6000 species)
• Plant packs (over 5000 species)

These packs are available individually or combined according to your needs.

This innovative technology allows you to prove the authenticity of the species present in your products with a much more exhaustive coverage than traditional methods.

Phytocontrol's experts can assist you with these issues related to fraud and food safety.

Need technical, regulatory and pricing information? Our customer service is available from Monday to Friday on +44 203 7430973 or london@phytocontrol.com