Fighting food fraud by paying attention to details

Many consumers (like you and I) have fallen prey to food fraud because they didn't pay attention to details and made a hasty decision during food product purchase.

The food industry is big on food safety (the assurance that food when eaten will not cause foodborne illness(es) to the consumer). Food safety is the number 1 priority during food manufacturing which is why food safety management systems like HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) are put in place throughout the manufacturing value chain.

Food fraud on the other hand, that is, economically-motivated intentional adulteration of food happens when fraudsters see a food product as vulnerable and exploit that vulnerability for their own financial gains. Even though there is VACCP (Vulnerability Assessment and Critical Control Points) for targeting food fraud, we, as consumers are also responsible for protecting ourselves and our hard-earned money from fraudsters.

Food fraud can come in a variety of ways:

• Counterfeiting: this is the most common. It involves copying brand names, logos, colours, packaging designs, recipes, processing method, etc. of food and beverage products for economic gain.
• Dilution: here, a liquid ingredient of high value is mixed with a liquid of lower value. Eg: diluting fruit juice with water, milk with water, etc
• Substitution: here, an ingredient, or part of the product, of high value is replaced with another ingredient, or part of the product of lower value. Eg: addition of caramelised sugar to honey, use of saccharine in place of sugar in baking.
• Concealment: here, low quality food ingredients or product are sold as premium quality. Eg: selling low quality herbs and spices as high quality (chilli pepper, saffron, oregano are common examples).
• Mislabeling: here, false claims are made on the packaging simply for economic gain. Eg: selling refined palm oil as olive oil or soya oil.
• Unapproved enhancement: here, undeclared, unknown or unapproved additives are used to enhance the quality attributes of food products such as colour, taste, flavour. Eg: use of undeclared synthetic dyes, flavour enhancers and sweeteners without GRAS certification.

Some typical consumer purchasing behaviours hinder ones ability to recognize a counterfeit product even when all the signs are glaring. Here a few:

• Hastiness: mistakes are likely to be made when things like shopping are done in a rush.
• Adventure: we all like to try new things every now and then. You may want to ask questions before trying out unfamiliar food products.
• Sales or freebie wave: Apply caution ??, look before you leap because "nothing is free even in Freetown".
• Impulsive buying: buying on impulse is mostly borne out of irrational thinking. Marketers of counterfeited products exploit this to convince unsuspecting buyers to purchase their products. This happens even in open markets.

Remember the time you hurriedly picked up the last can of a product from the supermarket shelf thinking how lucky you were but got home to realize it was counterfeited?

Remember when you saw "olive oil" on buy 1 get 1 free sales and rushed in to buy. Using the olive oil at home to cook, you realized that it smells exactly like the refined palm oil you have been using all along.

Wait a minute, do you remember when you thought you were buying a particular brand only to get home and realize that what you bought was different. The spellings were similar but not quite the same. You know, like buying ABIBAS instead of ADIDAS. ??

Some of these incidences can be prevented if we paid more attention to details and applied caution during food shopping. Paying attention to details can be by looking out for distinct features of a brand or product.

Always be on the look out for the following:

1. Presence of tamper proof
2. Correct spellings of brand words
3. Brand logos
4. Brand colours
5. Colour and appearance of product (for products packaged in transparent containers)
6. Use of branded cello tapes for carton sealing
7. Visible and legible coding information bearing the production batch details
8. Labelling (it may sound cliché, but please read your food labels, it contains valuable information that can influence your buying decision)
9. Cleanliness of containers (free from stains, rusts, and other visible signs of poor handling)

Dear reader, this month's newsletter is a call to pay attention to details during food product purchase.

Special shout-out to over 14,000 unique readers subscribed to this newsletter. Thank you for reading, reacting, commenting and reposting. If you're new here, please feel free to catch up on previous editions. Stay safe out there, until next time!

Written and edited by: Chidinma Ochulor for ??????'?? ???????? ????????! ????????????????????.

Chidinma is a Food Scientist and Technologist, a Food Safety and Quality Professional and is certified by Chartered Quality Institute/International Register of Certified Auditors as a food safety management systems lead auditor.