Role of analytical testing for food fraud risk mitigation - A commentary on implementation of analytical fraud testing: Role of analytical testing for food fraud mitigation

Francis Butler; Niels Lucas Luijckx; Hans J P Marvin; Yamine Bouzembrak; Vahid Mojtahed

doi:10.1016/j.crfs.2021.03.013

Role of analytical testing for food fraud risk mitigation - A commentary on implementation of analytical fraud testing: Role of analytical testing for food fraud mitigation

Curr Res Food Sci. 2021 Apr 5:4:301-307. doi: 10.1016/j.crfs.2021.03.013. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Francis Butler¹, Niels Lucas Luijckx², Hans J P Marvin³, Yamine Bouzembrak³, Vahid Mojtahed⁴

Affiliations

¹ UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
² TNO, P.O. Box 80015, 3508, TA, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
³ Wageningen Food Safety Research, P.O. Box 230, 6700, AE, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
⁴ Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK.

Abstract

Food fraud is of high concern to the food industry. A multitude of analytical technologies exist to detect fraud. However, this testing is often expensive. Available databases detailing fraud occurrences were systematically examined to determine how frequently analytical testing triggered fraud detection. A conceptual framework was developed for deciding when to implement analytical testing programmes for fraud and a framework to consider the economic costs of fraud and the benefits of its early detection. Factors associated with statistical sampling for fraud detection were considered. Choice of sampling location on the overall food-chain may influence the likelihood of fraud detection.

Keywords: Food fraud; Fraud detection; Fraud implementation framework; Sampling; Statistical aspects; Testing.