Food Fraud Advisors’ Food Fraud Risk Information Database was established in 2017 and now contains over 100,000 words of expertly curated information. The information was originally collected for our clients but quickly grew. After two years of curating and interpreting food fraud information from around the world on hundreds of food types, a sizeable database had formed. At the time, there were few reliable sources of food fraud information, so our Principal Karen Constable decided to publish it online.
The database is free and open-access – you don’t even have to hand over your email address.
Compiled by food fraud prevention expert Karen Constable, the database contains food fraud risk information for hundreds of different food types and food manufacturing inputs such as fertiliser, pesticides and packaging materials.
Use the database to perform food fraud vulnerability assessments and to understand hazards from economically motivated adulteration (EMA). It can also be used for horizon scanning to discover emerging threats to food supply chains.
The database is hosted on Trello, a board/based project management tool. The information is contained within cards, which are arranged into lists. Each list represents a food category, such as Produce (Fruit and Vegetables). Within each list there are separate cards for each food type, such as apples. Tap on a card to read the information inside.
Each card contains information about food fraud risks, emerging threats or food fraud incidents.
Some cards have coloured labels: Red for foods that are often affected by food fraud; orange for foods that are medium risk and yellow for foods that are high risk in some countries but lower risk in other countries. Cards without coloured labels are for foods with a lower risk of food fraud.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is responsible for this database?
The database is owned and managed by Food Fraud Advisors and is published by Food Fraud Advisors using Trello software provided by Atlassian.
Karen Constable, Principal of Food Fraud Advisors, leads the team that finds, selects, summarises and compiles the information in the database.
What are the sources?
We get our information from many sources. Most of it is publicly available online. Much of that is from public media outlets, while some is from specialist media sources from within the food industry, laboratory and chemical analysis industries. Other sources include the Food and Agriculture Organisation website, commodities trading information providers, the Joint Research Council of Europe, government agencies and private newsletters within the areas of food authenticity and food integrity.
To save space we don’t include links to sources on the Trello pages, however, we do keep a comprehensive list of sources and are happy to provide the sources of specific items on request. Simply write to us with the food type and the date listed in the entry and we will send you the source by email.
How comprehensive is the database?
We do not monitor food safety recalls, border inspection failures, nor individual suppliers. Our information is biased towards information that is published in the English language. We do not include every incident or report, only incidents and news that provide new information about the likelihood of fraud occurring now or in the future.
There is no real-time monitoring and updates to the database are not immediate.
Incidents added to the database are mostly drawn from international media and are heavily weighted to English language media, so are not suitable for accurate counting or mapping of incidents.
If you need a comprehensive, real-time monitoring, we recommend you purchase a subscription to a paid food safety/food fraud information service such as FoodChainID’s Horizon Scanning Tool.
Learn about paid food fraud databases here: Food Fraud Databases Compared
What definitions are used?
Food fraud is deception, using food, for economic gain (Food Fraud Initiative, Michigan State University, 2016). Food fraud includes incidents in which the food itself has been altered, by adding undeclared substances or removing parts of the food, which is sometimes called economically motivated adulteration (EMA). Food fraud also includes incidents in which the food itself has not been tampered with, such as smuggling, counterfeiting, false representations such as those about origin or organic status or changing of expiry dates.
Date formats?
We use the format dd/mm/yyyy.
Need More Food Fraud Information and News?
For comprehensive real-time monitoring and alerts, purchase a paid food fraud service like FoodChainID’s HorizonScan.
For monthly lists of incidents in pdf format, sign up to get JRC Food Fraud Monthly Reports, published by the European Joint Research Council.
Gain expert insights, food fraud news and curated food safety updates from Karen Constable’s newsletter, 🍏 The Rotten Apple 🍏.
Food fraud incident reports are also available in our downloadable offline ‘snapshots’ of the Food Fraud Advisors’ Food Fraud Risk Information Database, which you can purchase from our website for US197. We publish a new downloadable ‘snapshot’ three times per year.
Got more questions?
Want to know more? Contact us.