protected designation of origin

16th March 2019 by Karen Constable

How food fraud is uncovered; two cases of origin fraud

Origin fraud occurs when a food is misrepresented with respect to its geographical origin; it’s a type of fraud that can be categorised as ‘mislabeling’.

Examples of mislabeling include:

describing a fruit or vegetable as ‘organic’ when it was conventionally grown
cheeses and meats labeled as kosher or halal that are not
Spanish olive oil falsely declared as being ‘Italian’. This is origin fraud.

Mislabeling is also called misbranding in some countries. Because it is intended to deceive customers and consumers it is illegal under consumer protection laws and trade/contract laws just about everywhere. Because almost every type of food fraud involves mislabeling to some extent, quoting statistics on mislabeling is difficult. As an example, a botanical supplement labelled as 100% turmeric extract but that actually contains 15% filler is both mislabeled and diluted. To make it even trickier, different organisations using different words to describe similar food fraud activities. Learn more about classifying food fraud types in this great Food Safety Tech Article. Suffice to say, mislabeling fraud is very common and, according to US Grocery Manufacturers Association, it affects around 10% of food products globally.

Coffee growers in Hawaii have launched a class action to protect their products

How do we expose origin fraud? Typically, origin fraud is uncovered after authorities have been tipped off about suspect activity in a supply chain, either by people from within the supply chain or by competitors of the mislabeled product. The evidence used to pursue the fraudsters often comes from either fraudulent documentation, or from testing of finished products. This year we have seen an increase in the use of authenticity testing by representatives of ‘authentic’ brands to expose fraudulent products. This is a trend that I expect to continue as test methods are improved, refined and can more easily be extended to assess specific product attributes.

I have been following this trend with interest and was reading, today, about alleged origin fraud in coffee in the United States. This is a case that is representative of the trend to use sophisticated test methods to authenticate finished product attributes. Another recent example would be honey testing in Australia. In the coffee case, growers from the Kona district of Hawaii have filed a lawsuit against retailers for allegedly selling ‘Kona’ coffee that does not contain a reasonable amount of coffee from the district. Kona coffee production is 2.7 million pounds, however more than 20 million pounds of coffee labelled ‘Kona’ is sold each year. The plaintiffs claim to have analytical test results to support their claims. Nineteen brands of coffee, sold by retailers including Walmart, Cosco and Amazon, have been named in the complaint. Chemical testing technology underpins this current lawsuit, as it allows the coffee growers to show, for the first time, the actual Kona content of the coffee that is being allegedly mislabeled. For this to be possible, the coffee growers would have had to organise for testing laboratories to create a database of chemical test results of authentic samples of Kona coffee. Databases like this are used to model a product’s unique chemical fingerprint using sophisticated mathematical computations. The test method can then be used to compare the ‘fingerprints’ of suspect brands against those of authentic products, such as Kona-grown coffee, and infer the amount of genuine material in each sample. Developing databases for this type of testing is expensive and time consuming. However, there are an increasing number of laboratories that have the machinery, skills and software to perform this work, so it is becoming more accessible to brand owners.

Specialty vinegars fetch high prices and can be vulnerable to economically motivated food fraud.

In cases that do not originate with product testing, it is activities in the supply chain that provide clues to origin fraud. This month there have been reports of origin fraud for a specialty vinegar, Modena balsamic vinegar. Modena balsamic is protected by a special geographical designation under European regulations. According to these rules, Modena balsamic vinegar must be produced using grapes only from certain regions in order to be considered authentically ‘Modena’. A massive fraud involving 15 million Euros worth of materials has been uncovered in Italy after a special operation by local authorities found that the wrong grapes were being used to produce this very expensive product. Although operational details about this investigation are scarce, these types of actions by authorities are often initiated after authorities have received a tip off from someone connected with the supply chain. Another example of such a tip-off includes this recent wine counterfeiting operation in which authorities became aware that a printing shop had received an order for 4,500 wine labels from a company that was not the brand owner.

More tip-offs and more testing are my predictions for 2019 and 2020. These are going to lead to more investigations, complaints and enforcement actions against perpetrators of food fraud. And that’s a win for everyone!

Want our help with a food fraud problem?

29th June 2016 by foodfraudadvisors

Wine and cheese, a tale of authenticity

During my travels through the beautiful, giant world of the interverse this week, I came across two stories about ‘replica’ products. Because I live and breathe food authenticity I follow stories like these with great interest. My mission as an authenticity expert is to help people to make sense of the huge amounts of information, media-spin and noise around the integrity and authenticity of food, beverages and supplements.

As I read these two stories of ‘replica’ foods, I was struck by how utterly different they are from each other. The first story is a tale of ‘replica’ cheese, which sounds like some kind of fake non-dairy product, perhaps masquerading as the real thing. The question of whether a non-dairy product should be called ‘cheese’ hit the headlines in Europe earlier this year when a German court ruled that products made without animal milk cannot be called ‘cheese’, leaving vegan ‘cheese’ suppliers wondering what to call their products. But this latest story had nothing to do with that; although the labelling of vegan cheese substitutes clearly has regulatory implications, I don’t consider this particular issue to be an authenticity problem as such; purchasers of vegan ‘cheese’ are most certainly aware that the product has been produced without animal milk.

The ‘replica’ cheese in this week’s story was parmesan, and no, not the kind containing unauthorised wood pulp by-products, which has also been in the news recently. This time, it seems that cheese makers from the Italian provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna and Mantua, who collectively identify their region as Parmigiano-Reggiano, have decided to pursue those from outside the area who use the product names Parmesan, Parmigiano and Reggiano for trademark breaches. So the ‘replica’ cheese is in this story is cheese made in the style of Parmigiano and Reggiano, but not actually originating from that region.

Is this an authenticity issue? Perhaps. In Europe, the cheeses in question are subject to rules of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Under these rules it is illegal to call a cheese Parmesan if it did not originate in Parmigiano-Reggiano and meet the strict manufacturing criteria of the Parmigiano-Reggiano Consorzio, an Italian consortium created by government decree. In fact, US food giant Kraft had to rename its grated cheese ‘Pamesello’ in Europe to comply with these requirements. In other parts of the world, the terms have come to be used as a generic name for the hard Italian cheese for which the region is known. The Parmigiano-Reggiano Consorzio have decided to pursue sellers of cheese all over the world for claimed breaches of trademark.

Are the Italian-style cheeses in the news this week ‘replica’ cheeses? No; they are real cheeses, made with animal milk and conforming to a certain regional style. Would I call them inauthentic? Perhaps. Authentic food is food that is what it claims to be. If a cheese is marketed with clear information about its place of origin, wherever that may be, then it is reasonable for a consumer to understand that it has been made in the style of Parma, rather than being made in Parma itself. So according to my definition, that makes it authentic, at least when sold outside of Europe. However, if the origin of the cheese is misrepresented by the seller, or on the label, then that makes the product inauthentic. And, in most jurisdictions, illegal as well.

Replica wines

From ‘replica’ cheeses that are not exactly fake, my next stop on the web provided a fascinating insight into the emerging niche market of ‘replica’ wine. Two companies are reinventing wine production and it is now possible to purchase a wine-like alcoholic beverage made without using grapes or fermentation processes. In this case, I would say the use of the term ‘replica’ is perfect. Ava Winery claims to have modelled its flavour profile on Dom Perignon’s Champagne, using a proprietary method that combines amino acids, sugars and ethanol in precise quantities. Another company, Replica, offers a range of ‘masterful recreations’ of award-winning wines created by scientists using laboratory analyses of key flavour characteristics.

While traditionalists may throw up their hands in horror at the thought of making that most noble of fermented drinks in a laboratory, there is nothing inauthentic about the beverages made by these two companies. Both websites have very clear messages around the authenticity of their products. Ava Winery states that their company is “in no way affiliated [with] Dom Pérignon® or Moët Hennessy USA, Inc. which does not endorse our products.” Replica says that “Originality is overrated, especially when it’s overpriced.” Both are unapologetic about their mission to recreate fabulous flavours using science. Replica’s range even includes a gorgeously packaged beverage called ‘Knockoff’ that is said to mimic a California Chardonnay.

Authentic, science-loving and beautiful-looking, what’s not to love? I can’t wait to try some.

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