Abstract

Faith in Food or Dining on Deception?

Saskia van Ruth, Professor, Wageningen University

In the past years many global food scandals came to light which led to increasing awareness of the occurrence of food fraud in general but led also to serious monetary losses, food safety issues and erosion of consumer confidence. The increased pressure from food fraud incidents requires robust quality systems that not only address unintentional food quality/safety and intentional defense issues but also include food fraud control and prevention measures. This provides the managerial challenge of being receptive to external threats as well as to the dark side of one’s own organization. Recently a science-based framework has been designed which considers opportunities, motivations, and control measures. Fraud control measures involve both soft and hard controls, with analytical testing being part of the hard controls. Some examples of the latest advanced and complex laboratory-based methodology will be presented as well as new rapid, portable analysis methods for on-site measurements.