10th June 2017 by Karen Constable

Letter from Thailand – food fraud, food safety, food excellence

The World of Food Safety Conference was held in Bangkok in conjunction with THAIFEX in early June 2017. Delegates represented large and medium sized food businesses in South East Asia as well as government and trade organisations. Thai, Singaporean, Malaysian and Myanmar delegates dominated the group. The attendees were hungry for knowledge about food fraud and food fraud prevention; almost 50% of the topics across the two-day conference were related to food fraud, traceability, supply chain management and crisis management.

As well as speaking about recent trends and developments in food fraud, I enjoyed learning from the other speakers, sampling the wonders of THAIFEX and enjoying Thai food which was truly excellent.

Karen Constable spoke about Food Fraud at World of Food Safety Conference

Background checks as an aid to fraud mitigation

I was lucky to gain some fantastic insights into the intricacies and challenges of performing background checks on business people in Asia from Jingyi Li Blank, Mintz Group. Background checks on business owners are a great way to understand vulnerabilities to food fraud when seeking new suppliers or investigating sources of new raw materials. South East Asia and China present some challenges for companies performing background checks, including the way that people in the area often have multiple spellings and versions of their names, as well as issues related to cross-border jurisdictions.

Prevalence of food fraud prevention systems

Julia Leong from PricewaterhouseCoopers shared some statistics on current levels of compliance among food companies who have interracted with the PwC SSAFE tool: 41% of companies have no systems to detect or monitor fraud, 36% have no whistle-blowing systems and 38% do not perform background checks on employees. Food businesses that neglect these areas are exposing themselves to serious financial risks from food fraud.

Support for food businesses in developing countries from GFSI

It was heartening to hear about the new program being launched by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) in developing countries. The Global Markets Program is designed to bridge the gap between food operations with no formal food safety systems and those who have GFSI-endorsed certification by helping companies to develop food safety management systems through a process of continuous improvement. Within the program, manufacturing support systems related to hygiene and other basic principles of food safety are implemented progressively over a defined time period as the companies work to attain either a basic or intermediate level of compliance. The results are not accredited but become the foundation for further improvements so that the business can work towards implementing a complete food safety program.

Sustainability in the food supply chain; palm oil and coconut oil

Matthew Kovac of Food Industry Asia presented on behalf of Cargill, providing a fascinating introduction to the sustainability programs Cargill has introduced in their palm oil and coconut oil supply chains. Cargill is a major grower, purchaser and refiner of palm oil and are aiming for a 100% sustainable target by 2020. For Cargill, sustainability in palm oil means:

No deforestation of high value areas
No development on peat (burning beat causes air pollution and contributes to climate change)
No exploitation of indigenous peoples
Inclusion of small land holders

Coconut oil sustainability is being improved in conjunction with The Rainforest Alliance, by providing training and support for Filipino growers so that they can increase their yields, as well as providing them with access to wood fired dryers that allow the growers to produce copra that has better colour, less aflatoxins, less environmental contaminants and lower free fatty acids than traditionally sun-dried copra.

The many and varied hazards in HACCP for fish

It was both fascinating and scary to be reminded of the hazards to food safety from fresh fin fish by Preeya Ponbamrung, from Handy International: pathogenic bacteria, viruses, biotoxins such as ciguatera, biogenic amines (histamine being the most common), parasites and chemicals such as water pollutants and antibiotics used in aquaculture. That’s quite a hazard list; it was heartening to hear Ms Ponbamrung describe the control methods employed by the fish processing industry to keep those hazards out of our food supply.

Crisis communications; winners and losers

We learnt about successful methods – and not-so-successful-methods – that food companies use to communicate food safety and food fraud risks to consumers. Nestle was applauded for its fast, clear and practical response to reports of counterfeit versions of its popular MILO chocolate drink powder in Malaysia. The brand owner promptly published instructions for consumers on social media and in the local press explaining how to tell the difference between the fake and the real product.

Image: MILO Malaysia Facebook, March 2015

Some other companies do not do so well with crisis communications. Cesare Varallo of Inscatech, showed us that the public communications of Chipotle in the USA about its food safety problems were less than ideal. The brand has suffered serious losses and it has been reported that 13% of its former customers say they will never return. Time is of the essence in a food safety or food fraud crisis. Does your company have a crisis plan?

Want to know more about any of these topics? Get in touch with us, we love to help.

20th May 2017 by foodfraudadvisors

Food Fraud News – May 2017

European food supply at risk from climate change affects on other continents

A study that examined European water demand found the EU to be likely to be affected by droughts in other countries because of its reliance on certain food crops that do not grow in Europe. They predicted that droughts in growing areas for almonds, pistachios, grapes, rice, soybeans and sugar cane would have serious impact on European supplies and prices. Droughts are expected to occur more frequently with climate change. The largest impact is expected to be on the European meat and dairy sector due to its reliance on soy for animal feed. Increasing prices and factors that affect supply can increase the risk of food fraud, with food and feed that is imported from drought affected countries likely to become more vulnerable.

Condiments and sauces; counterfeiting operations, products uncovered more frequently

Another counterfeit condiment operation has been uncovered in Asia in recent months. This follows an earlier discovery, in January this year of a sophisticated factory complex in China that was manufacturing a range of sauces and noodles and packing them with counterfeit branding for Maggi, Knorr and Nestle. Fifty small factories were hidden in a residential area, and managed to produce goods worth $14.5 million per year, according to one estimate. In Europe, counterfeit seasoning cubes were seized during a recent enforcement operation. And there have been two recent incidences of salt fraud; one in Nigeria and one in Scotland. Is condiment counterfeiting growing or are we just getting better at finding it? Only time will tell. What we do know for certain is that it is not only premium, luxury goods that are at risk of being copied.

Coffee price volatility set to increase

Larger than usual volatility in coffee pricing is predicted for the coming year as weather events and an unusually large predicted crop of arabica in Brazil are expected to impact world markets. In addition, the Honduran coffee harvest is at risk from a leaf mould disease. The previous outbreak in that country had a lasting impact on the harvest. Coffee is already at high risk of food fraud and increasing volatility in the markets in the short term is likely to increase the risk. Long term predictions for coffee supply are already grim because of climate change’s effects on growing conditions. Heavy disease burdens in key growing areas will exacerbate the problem and ultimately increase the supply problems worldwide, increasing coffee’s vulnerability to food fraud.

Coffee,authentic,fraud,horizon scanning — Increased volatility in coffee markets is predicted for the coming year

Vertical integration in the food supply chain in Italy

An Italian consumer group has warned that at least 5000 restaurants in Italy are run by the mafia. The mafia in Italy are also said to be involved in food fraud within primary production, manufacturing and wholesaling sectors. Any restaurant that is run by an organisation that has links to organisations that are perpetrating food fraud provides the perfect sales outlet for the fraud-affected food. The foods are, in effect, exchanged for ‘clean’ currency from restaurant patrons, essentially laundering money derived from food fraud operations. It has been reported that some of the mafia-run growing operations are being done on polluted land that is not safe for food production.

Get more news

Learn about the food fraud risks for hundreds of different products in our Food Fraud Risk Information Database, hosted by Trello. It’s new, it’s free, check it out today.

13th May 2017 by foodfraudadvisors

What’s the go with garlic?

Whole fresh garlic is at low risk of fraudulent adulteration, however, as with other produce, there is a medium to high likelihood of its origin or organic status being misrepresented in markets where consumers pay a premium based on those characteristics. For fresh bulb garlic, claims about chemical treatments, such as bleaching, are also at risk of being fraudulent.

For powdered and flaked garlic, the risk profile is different. Dried and powdered garlic are at higher risk of adulteration than whole bulbs. All types of dried, flaked and powdered garlic are at risk of undeclared preservatives or additives, undeclared fillers (diluents), such as chalk or flour, misrepresentation of organic status or origin and smuggling. In early 2017, some food companies in USA and Australia found garlic powder that was sourced from China to be contaminated with peanut.

In October of 2016, it was reported that speculators were purchasing huge quantities of garlic in China, the world’s largest garlic exporter, after prices almost doubled in the previous year. This has led to supply issues and very high prices. Dried garlic is affected even worse than fresh bulbs.

In April 2017, CBC News (Canada) reported that garlic trading trends have food fraud expert Professor Chris Elliott mystified, because sales are at normal levels despite much of China’s recent garlic crop being devastated by a cold snap. This might be because the speculators who were hording garlic in the previous year have been releasing it on to the market this year.

Want information just like this for hundreds of other food types? Check out our Food Fraud Risk Information database.

6th May 2017 by foodfraudadvisors

Food Fraud Risk Database

It’s huge, it’s completely free and open-access; no log-in required. It’s our

Food Fraud Risk Information Database

Compiled by food fraud experts and containing information about hundreds of different food types, including past incidences of food fraud and emerging threats, you can use it to meet the requirements of your food safety management system, for

food fraud vulnerability assessments,
food safety risk assessments
hazards from intentional adulteration requiring preventive controls (FSMA)
pre-filtering and
horizon scanning for emerging threats

You can choose to ‘watch’ the database to receive notifications every time new information is added. You can also watch individual food types (say “Beef”) to receive updates for just that food type.

Access is free, although if you want to receive notifications you will need to create a (free) Trello account. We do not receive income from Trello for new sign-ups.

Check it out today

food fraud risk database — Food Fraud Risk Information database, created by Food Fraud Advisors, hosted by Trello.com

22nd April 2017 by foodfraudadvisors

Frequently asked questions

Vulnerability Assessment Tools – Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What if I disagree with the results?

The Vulnerability Assessment Tool creates estimates of vulnerabilities using information entered by the user. Users are encouraged to also enter their own estimates. The reported results are based on the user’s estimates if they have been entered; if not, calculated results are used.

Why is the Vulnerability Assessment Tool an Excel spreadsheet instead of specialised software?

The tool was created for Quality Assurance Mangers, Food Safety Managers and HACCP Team members. It was created with Microsoft Excel because most of its intended users are familiar with excel and so can begin entering data as soon as they open the spreadsheet, with no special training. Data can be copied, pasted and searched just as you would in any spreadsheet and results can be easily extracted for use in other documents. Blank and completed spreadsheets can and should be incorporated into a company’s controlled documents and record-keeping system and Microsoft Excel files are usually suitable for this purpose.

The tabular format of the data entry pages allows users to have a ‘whole picture’ visual understanding of the data that has been entered and the gaps that need to be filled. Other types of software such as questionnaire-style assessments do not provide a visual overview and require information to be entered in a defined series of steps which can be frustrating. Within the tables of the Vulnerability Assessment Tools, colour-coding functions provide instant feedback about whether an answer affects vulnerability in a positive or negative way, which can be a valuable learning tool.

Can I copy the results into my own spreadsheet or other document?

Yes. The data can be copied, pasted, sorted and manipulated as in any spreadsheet. When copying from the tool use the excel function ‘paste special – values’, which will prevent pasting formulas that might return error values in a different document.

Do I have to purchase a new spreadsheet for each material that I need to assess?

No, you may make as many copies of this spreadsheet as you need for ONE food business in one manufacturing location. You may not share it with other food businesses or take it when you change jobs. For complete terms and conditions click here.

Is there a telephone number I can call for help and support with the tool?

Real-time support is coming soon. Until then, please email support@foodfraudadvisors.com with your query, including your preferred contact details and geographical location (for time zone purposes). We will contact you by telephone or Skype or email an answer to you.

Why are some of the cells password protected?

Protection has been applied to many of the cells in the vulnerability assessment spreadsheets. There are a number of reasons for this, the most important of which is so that users do not accidentally ‘break’ the formulas which would be very easy to do if the cells were not locked.

Within the food fraud tools, the protection prevents users from making changes to the wording of the questions or the automatically generated answers. To get an idea of how the cells are protected, download our free trial food fraud spreadsheet: Try it free v3.0s

There is no password protection in the food defense tool. Some cells have been protected to prevent accidental changes, but passwords have not been applied, so users may ‘unprotect’ any part of the spreadsheet if desired.

Can I have access to the formulas that generate the results?

If you disagree with the results the tools allow you to override them; the reported results are based on the user’s estimates if they have been entered; if not, calculated results are used.

If you think the methodology, including the risk calculations should be amended or you think there is an error in any formula please contact us. We want the Vulnerability Assessment Tools to be the best they can be and value your feedback.

Want to buy an unlocked version that is fully customisable? Request a quote here.

My security settings will not allow me to run macros, is this a problem?

No problem; Food Fraud Advisors’ and AuthenticFoodCo’s Vulnerability Assessment Tools have been created without macros to keep things safe and secure and to prevent headaches with your internal IT systems.

Can I get a tax receipt?

Australian purchasers receive a tax invoice for GST purposes in their confirmation email. Purchasers in other countries are not charged any tax but receive an itemised purchase receipt in their confirmation email.

Got more questions?

Ask us, we love to help!

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22nd April 2017 by foodfraudadvisors

Compatibility Issues?

Excel compatibility; Vulnerability Assessment Tool

Got compatibility issues?

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22nd April 2017 by foodfraudadvisors