Protection against Food Fraud
The UK food and drink manufacturing industry had a turnover of £92 billion in 2012 and the industry makes up the largest of our manufacturing sector. For any fraudsters motivated by economic gain the industry is a tempting target. The industry has a gross value added of £24billion; the temptation for fraudsters is to earn a share, for example by dilution or substitution. The unintentional consequences of such actions often affect public health, sometimes seriously, for example in 2008 melamine in Chinese infant formula affected an estimated 300,000 individuals and led to infant deaths. In contrast, the concern over potential residues of the veterinary painkiller phenylbutazone (‘bute’) in horsemeat last year was fortunately declared to be a very low risk to health. New approaches have been developed to protect the industry, for example using Threat Assessment of Critical Control Points (TACCP) against the threat of malicious attacks. The Elliott report published in September identified eight integrated recommendations to address food crime; embedded in one of these was an encouragement for industry to sample, test and supervise food supplies at all stages of the food chain. When fraudsters actively seek to avoid detection, any strategy for protection has to involve innovation in methods of detection. These are topics covered in two conferences where Bio-Check are present in November, on 5th organised by Campden BRI and 24th / 25th organised by LGC.