Food Crime under the spotlight
Professor Chris Elliott’s final report reviewing the integrity and assurance of British food supply networks is expected next month. The interim report made 48 recommendations to address the gaps in tackling ‘food crime’ following the horsemeat scandal, covering: Consumers First, Zero Tolerance, Intelligence Gathering, Laboratory Services, Audit, Government Support, Leadership, and Crisis Management. It will be for the UK Government to implement any improvements. Professor Elliott commented on Twitter that he believed his recommendations would get a fair hearing, in spite of earlier reports to the contrary. The negative impact of food fraud is now more widely recognised; it undermines consumer confidence and business. Furthermore food fraud is a global risk to the supply chain and is not restricted to the UK. Consequently, the importance of this new risk to the global supply chain is likely to be incorporated in Issue 7 of the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety to be launched at the end of the year. The draft revised standard is currently in consultation with comments required back by the end of May. Unsurprisingly, systems to verify authenticity and effective traceability of raw materials are under consideration; these are systems where testing will play its part (e.g. onsite, ELISA, PCR for species identification). If food crime was not enough to undermine consumer confidence; the media has recently attacked some food retailers for not labelling foods that contain halal meat.