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30th December 2020 by foodfraudadvisors

Honey Fraud This Month: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Honey authenticity is all over the (food fraud) news this month.  There’s good news.  And bad.

Here’s what’s happening in honey fraud right now, from Karen Constable of authenticfood.co and Food Fraud Advisors.

 

 

Video transcript:

(Karen Constable) “It’s been a tough year for honey.  There has been lots of commentary about food fraud in honey, following a big recall in the UK at the end of last year and controversy over honey testing methods.  It’s never good to hear about food fraud issues, but there is a silver lining.

The Good

The Canadian government last year committed to spending more than $20 million on food fraud testing and intelligence gathering over a five year period.  Honey is one food product that has been chosen for surveillance by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The CFIA published their honey surveillance results this month and guess what?! Authenticity is up and food fraud is down compared to last year.

The CFIA sampled both the marketplace at large and also a number of bulk honey importers and processors that were deemed to be high risk.  Only 13% of samples were deemed not-authentic, compared to 22% the previous year.  That’s a significant improvement!

The CFIA used the results of their previous honey surveillance work to design a targeted sampling plan.  Those samples that they targeted had risk factors such as a history of non-compliance, known preventive controls deficits and unusual trading patterns.  This type of targeting sampling, in which previous results are used to focus on known problem areas, is a great way to maximise the value of authenticity testing (which can be expensive).  Way to go, Canadia! (PS for more on sampling methodology, click here)

Of those samples collected from the marketplace (that is, without being targeted towards high-risk products), 98% were authentic and the only products that had ‘unsatisfactory results’ were imported products.

So testing = good.  For my food safety viewers, it’s worth noting that – unlike micro testing – food authenticity testing can not only provide valuable insights into the occurrence of food fraud but also helps to prevent it.  The fact that someone is paying attention, and doing testing can effectively drive reductions in fraud, as we have seen with the Canadian honey testing regime.  My prediction is that next year’s surveillance will have even better results than this year’s.  And that’s something to be happy about!

The Bad

The Canadian government isn’t the only one that’s been testing honey this year.  The Indian Centre for Science and Environment and a government-funded institute in the Philippines have also published honey testing results this month.

In the Philippines, a survey of 74 locally-produced honeys purchased online found that 87% of them contained sugar syrup.  Ie rendering them NOT authentic honey.  More than 80% of these products actually contained no honey at all and were just made from sugar syrup.

These are some of the worst authenticity statistics that I have ever seen!

Local products purchased in brick and mortar stores fared a little better in this study, but the results were still bad, with around 75% of samples containing adulterant(s). Interestingly, in the Philippines, imported honeys performed significantly better than the locally-produced honeys, the opposite of what was seen in Canada.

So those results were pretty bad, but it is good to see authenticity testing being done in the public arena more frequently than in the past.

The Ugly

Yep, this is really ugly.

There’s testing and then there’s testing….

India is another country that is funding food adulteration prevention. And, of course, that’s a good thing.  And they are testing honey.

However, like many countries, India’s legal definition of honey is based on the chemical signature of the sugars in the product, which is verified using C3 and C4 testing.

In December, The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE, India) reported a very high proportion of ‘inauthentic’ honeys in a survey that made use of both C3/C4 tests and more sophisticated testing that makes use of NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) analysis.   Some honeys passed the C3/C4 tests but ‘failed’ the NMR tests.

Investigators from CSE claim this is due to the products being made with special syrups that are designed to ‘trick’ the C3/C4 tests. They allege that these syrups can be purchased cheaply via online trade portals.  The syrups are apparently marketed as “all pass” syrups because the suppliers claim they can pass the Indian government’s authenticity tests.

The CSE say that their own testing has confirmed that samples containing up to 50 percent of “all pass” syrup pass the tests.

Wrap up

There’s big money to be made from food fraud, as I have said before.  I have even heard it said that olive oil fraud is 3 times more profitable than smuggling cocaine – as well as being much less risky. (I haven’t been able to find the original source of that comment, I heard it at a food fraud conference in 2017).  And where there is money to be made, criminals will find ways to cheat the system.

Sadly, worldwide volumes of honey production are way down and predicted to fall even further due to climate change and bee colony diseases. That makes genuine honey more scarce, more valuable and, as a result, more profitable to fake.  Honey fraud is – unfortunately – here to stay.

My hope is that organisations like the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the CSE in India continue to keep the pressure on honey fraudsters. Let’s keep making their lives hell!”

 

 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Authenticity, Food Fraud

13th January 2019 by foodfraudadvisors

From the food fraud desk

Happy New Year!

Last year was a busy year for Food Fraud Advisors.

Detection and enforcement actions increasing

Food fraud remains a hot topic in the food industry and is garnering stronger interest from the international anti-counterfeiting industry as well as international crime prevention groups like Europol and Interpol.  Recently, the international media have been discussing the role of organised crime syndicates in the food industry, particularly in the produce sector in Italy and in tuna trading in Europe.

Detections of food fraud and seizures have increased: almost a quarter of the 31 m counterfeit items seized by EU customs agents in 2017 were food stuffs.

In 2018 we were pleased to witness a number of serious law enforcement actions across the globe.  This is a trend which I hope will continue.  As an example, the people responsible for a long-running, fraudulent organic grain scheme in the USA were charged and pleaded guilty.  In Pakistan, the authorities have used new laws prohibiting the sale of unpackaged spices, which were created to reduce food adulteration, to seize 165,000 kg of spices and shut down 400 spice processing facilities.

Rising consumer awareness

Meanwhile, consumer awareness of food fraud is also rising.  Nearly three quarters of UK consumers think there is a serious problem with food fraud in their country and one quarter of consumers think they have experienced it first hand.

food fraud worries shoppers

Test method developments

In academia, new test methods for food fraud detection continue to be created and refined.  As exciting as it is to read headlines in journals about the latest scientific breakthrough, many of the research papers report on testing methodology that won’t be ready to be used by food manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers for some time.  One such exciting headline recently gushed that scientists have found a new ‘simple’ method to distinguish organic milk from conventional milk.   The headline did indeed to turn out to be too good to be true, with more work on a larger sample size needed to validate the method.   However, with organic products at very high risk of food fraud and detection being difficult, it’s great to see the analytical community working on these problems.

Our year working for you

Within Food Fraud Advisors we have been focussing on keeping up to date with our customers’ needs for the latest versions of SQF, BRC and IFS food safety standards.  Food fraud documentation is one of the top sources of non-conformities in food safety audits so many of our customers have been seeking help to boost their programs.

SQF’s standard in particular caused a few headaches for our clients.  SQFI did not publish any guidance for food fraud until after the implementation date for Edition 8.  As a result, many SQF-certified facilities needed our help to understand and implement programs to meet the new food fraud requirements before their first audits.  Within the  SQF guidance document there is a recommendation for senior managers to be trained in food fraud awareness and we were pleased to launch a short, practical on-demand training course to meet this requirement.   We’ve had great feedback about this course, and for only $59 it’s a great way to meet your continuous improvement and training requirements for 2019.

Also in 2018, our one-stop, deep-dive food fraud training course was re-launched, with new lessons, more downloadable templates, new content for food fraud teams and step-by-step instructions for creating and implementing a food fraud prevention program from scratch.   Check it out today. 

We look forward to working with you in 2019 and beyond.

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Filed Under: Food Fraud

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