Industry Concerns About Food Fraud Come to Light
Following a recent American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting at which scientists discussed how wines could be authenticated by measuring carbon isotopes, whose levels varied in the atmosphere during the years nuclear weapons were tested, a number of recent articles discuss the subject of food fraud. Said to affect some 5 to 7 percent of a range of foods from cheeses, fish, honey, and wine to expensive spices such as saffron, the problem has not apparently received the attention required from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), due to its focus on more pressing food safety concerns and contamination outbreaks. A consultant studying the matter for the Grocery Manufacturers Association was quoted as saying, “[Food fraud is] growing very rapidly, and there’s more of it than you might think.”
Not only shoppers are fooled by mislabeled foods; major companies have been stung as well. Information about major food manufacturers and retailers taken in by suppliers’ tomato paste, pinot noir and catfish scams has been summarized in previous issues of this Update. Today, a number of testing methods are reportedly available to determine a product’s authenticity, but researchers urge caution as some of the tests are not particularly discriminating.
Industry trade associations have long called on FDA to set standards for products such as honey and olive oil, but their requests remain unaddressed. They would reportedly like to be able to sue competitors that sell adulterated products. A chemist who co-chaired the ACS meeting explained that the development of standards will require compiling extensive databases that include profiles from a range of product varieties, geographical origins and production processes. “A Cabernet grown in Europe might have a slightly different chemical profile from a Cabernet grown in Australia or the U.S.,” as a result of differing growing conditions, she said. See The Washington Post, March 30, 2010; Chemical & Engineering News, April 5, 2010; Food & Think (a blog of the Smithsonian Magazine), April 7, 2010.
