A food fraud prevention team is a group of employees in a food business that is responsible for creating, implementing and supervising food fraud prevention activities in the business.
Food fraud teams are ideally made of representatives from various departments of the food business, such as Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Procurement, Production, Marketing, Site Security, Legal, Warehousing and Laboratory.
Members should be trained in food fraud awareness.
Typically, a food fraud prevention team would meet on an as-needed basis as determined by the food fraud team leader or as directed by senior management, with at least one full meeting every 12 months. Meetings should also be held in the event of a food fraud crisis or if there have been major changes to supply chains or operations.
Attendance and minutes of the meetings should be recorded and filed within the food fraud prevention section of the food safety management system. Action items from each meeting should be noted in the minutes, and subsequent meetings should address action items from previous minutes.
Agenda items for food fraud team meetings
- Action items from the previous meeting – status of actions.
- Discussion/report on new products in development and/or launched since the last regular meeting, with respect to food fraud vulnerabilities.
- Discussion/report on changes to raw materials, suppliers.
- Discussion/report on new raw materials, new suppliers and contract manufacturers.
- Review of current food fraud procedures – do they represent current best practice, are they being followed?
- Discussion/report on any food fraud incidents or new risks emerging in relevant supply chains.
- Review of the composition of the food fraud team; any changes needed?
- Discussion/report on changes or upcoming amendments to certification requirements or customer standards.
- Review of audit results (internal, external and customer audits), with respect to food fraud elements. Improvement suggestions and/or status of corrective actions.
- Review of mitigation plans and/or testing results; any new mitigation activities needed, new tests available?
- Report to senior management re. food fraud vulnerabilities and status of mitigation activities, request for further resources if needed.
What to do if you can’t get a food fraud team
Food fraud poses financial and reputation risks to businesses, and a single person should not be expected to understand every vulnerability across the business. The consequences of missing a vulnerability can be severe, and this must be explained to senior managers when requesting resources for a food fraud team.
Even in a very small company, a food fraud team containing a senior manager/owner, food safety representative, purchasing officer and production manager is best practice. The cost of man-hours used by a food fraud team is far lower than the cost of any serious food fraud event.
However, if you are responsible for food fraud prevention and you haven’t succeeded in getting a food fraud team, there are a few things you can do to reduce the risks. Firstly, you can approach members of other departments informally and ask them for their thoughts about specific products, ingredients or processes. You can also engage the services of an external food safety consultant if the budget allows. They can bring a fresh perspective, new knowledge and may even be able to persuade senior management of the importance of forming a team.
Finally, you could borrow the food safety hive mind in a forum or professional group to assist with tasks such as identifying or prioritising vulnerabilities. Try the forums of the International Food Safety and Quality Network (IFSQN) which are free and can be used anonymously, LinkedIn groups or professional food science associations such as IFST (UK), IFT (USA) or AIFST (Australia).
Food Fraud Advisors has food fraud awareness training for your team, and a downloadable template for food fraud team SOPs, agendas, minutes and personnel lists. Learn more by clicking the icons below.
