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Authenticity vs regulatory compliance vs safety; the snake wine perspective

Anyone for some snake wine? According to Brady Ng of Munchies, a good snake wine should taste like a meal in a shot glass. Snake wine is made by drowning a live snake in a vessel of strongly alcoholic rice wine, often accompanied by herbs and spices or smaller reptiles like geckos.

The video below went viral this week as western viewers shared their shock and horror at the cruelty involved in producing the beverage which is popular in Vietnam, Korea and China. Leaving aside the issues of animal cruelty, here at Food Fraud Advisors we were asking these questions:

Is the snake wine in this video authentic? Sure looks like it!  Authenticity depends solely on how the finished product is marketed, so provided that the seller does not claim it was made with cobra and special rice wine if it really contains a plain old garden python and cheap grain alcohol, it could be considered ‘authentic’.  Read more about authenticity here.

Is the snake wine in this video legal? Perhaps. Its manufacturing methods may breach laws about endangered species and animal cruelty, and I can’t make any comment on whether it complies with the local liquor excise laws and taxes, but the finished product itself probably meets basic food safety laws in most of South East Asia.

Is the snake wine in this video safe to drink?  Probably.  The alcohol in the wine denatures any venom in the snake and does a great job of controlling any microbial hazards.  And I’m told a well-aged snake wine tastes pretty good.  Just make sure the snake is truly dead before you open the bottle, or you could meet the same fate as this woman in China.

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Authentic Food versus Safe Food

Food authenticity is utterly dependent on the way a food is marketed or presented.  A piece of meat sitting on a plate is just a piece of meat until someone tells you something about it; is it organic? is it free-range? grass-fed? hormone-free?  It is only after a product has been described in some way that authenticity becomes relevant.  Authentic food is food (or drink) that is what it is claimed to be.  Simple!  Or is it?  Read more about food authenticity here.

Safe food is safe to eat and it’s as simple as that.  It doesn’t matter how the food is described or sold, whether it’s horse meat or venison or giraffe, if it’s safe to eat then it’s safe to eat.  Simple!  …. well pretty simple anyway… read more about safe food here.

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Why should I care about food fraud?

We care about food fraud

… because Aussie farmers who work hard to grow top quality specialty products suffer huge losses each time someone fraudulently passes off an inauthentic product as their own.  Read the story of East Gippsland farmer Peter Treasure whose Wuk Wuk brand beef has been exploited here.

…. because of Cheznye Emmons who was 23 when she died after drinking fake gin in Sumatra.  Read her story here.

… because your customers care about it.

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Organic almonds twice the price?

My friend loves to buy healthy, natural and organic food for her family.  They eat a couple of kilos of almonds per week.  Last week she decided to check out the organic almonds available for bulk purchase at a local natural food co-op (yes this is in an inner suburb of Sydney, how’d you guess?).  The organic almonds were over twice as expensive at the co-op than if she had bought them from one of the big supermarkets.

Are they worth it?  Maybe… she really likes the idea of buying organic food.

Are they authentic?  Who knows? If the organic almonds are selling for around $30 per kg and the supermarket almonds are selling for $15 per kg then an unscrupulous supplier could make some easy money by adding just 10% ‘non-organic’ almonds to each lot of organic.  Do I think the local organic co-op would do such a thing?  No, I don’t think they would.  Do I think that there are people in their supply chain who might be tempted to take advantage of the premium price of organic food by acting fraudulently? Absolutely.

So are organic almonds vulnerable to food fraud?  Yes.  But how do you know if your almonds are authentic?  And what are the consequences it they are not?

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Food Fraud Advisors says hi

Food Fraud Advisors provides online consultancy, templates and training for food fraud prevention.

Authentic food is something that we all value, both as consumers and as members of the food industry.

At the moment there is growing awareness of problems with the authenticity of many food and beverages.  At the consumer level we see this awareness in investigative pieces on current affairs television shows, campaigns by consumer advocacy groups and on-line discussions on social media.  At the food business level food authenticity is becoming big news.

Right now there are big impacts for food manufacturers that are certified to GFSI-endorsed standards, since all the standards have been recently updated to include new requirements for food fraud prevention activities.

In the regulatory world food authenticity-related crimes are proving to be attractive to organized crime syndicates.  The cross-border and cross-disciplinary regulatory issues are a real challenge.

We are Food Fraud Advisors and we are here to help.