Food Fraud Prevention
What is food fraud?
‘Food fraud’ refers to the intentional substitution, addition, tampering or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients or packaging, or to deliberately making false or misleading statements about a product, for economic gain.
Why is it important to manage food fraud?
Food fraud can result in long-term damage to the economy and the food industry. Food fraud threatens a company’s brand and reputation, and may put consumer health at risk. Role players in food supply networks are liable for managing product vulnerabilities, and are legally required to meet the requirements stipulated in the relevant South African regulations. Furthermore, a VACCP system for food fraud prevention is a requirement of Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standards such as BRC and FSSC 22000.
Testing for food fraud
Our expert team takes the guesswork out of food fraud and authenticity testing. We are able to assist you in identifying what types of fraud are relevant to a product, and how to test for them. FACTS continuously strives to provide innovative analytical solutions that detect and consequently prevent food fraud. View our Testing Catalogue here.
Incident scanning solutions
Reviewing and analysing what acts of food fraud have occurred in the past is an important step in managing food fraud. This is known as incident scanning. Incident scanning is key to performing comprehensive vulnerability assessments. FACTS offers incident scanning services and solutions.
Support and consultation
The food fraud field is ever-changing, so it can be difficult to stay on top of trends, navigate VACCP plan requirements, and implement countermeasures to detect and deter fraud.
Browse our news articles for key insights, and explore our resource centre for useful tools.
Please contact us to talk through your food testing requirements.
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