What is Food Fraud?
What is Food Fraud?
Food Fraud is the deliberate production and/or commercialization of non-compliant food for economic gain that could impact consumer health. Food fraud occurs when products do not comply with legislation, for example they are not produced following the «correct» process, do not contain the «correct» ingredients or do not match the label, declared origin, etc.
There is no EU agreed definition of “food fraud“. However, it is broadly accepted that it covers cases where the EU food law is intentionally violated to pursue an economic or financial gain through consumer deception.
Food frauds undermine product authenticity: product origin, biologicalcharacteristics (species, types) and quality (PDO, PGI). This problem especially affects highly valuable premium products. However, the increasing complexity of food chains, the economic crisis and the shortening of supplies have globally increased the pressure to commit food adulteration.