Counterfeit Foods and Adulterated Foods- Blog

Although there is a difference between counterfeit foods and adulterated foods, what both practices share is the huge damage caused to companies and consumers, whether in terms of brand reputation or health. A number of different kinds of foods have been affected, and cases are not restricted to particular locations: the problem is worldwide.

BELOW WE EXPLAIN:

the differences between counterfeit and adulterated foods;
the products that are most affected by these practices; and
how traceability technology can help.

COUNTERFEIT FOODS

Counterfeit foods are produced with the aim of copying the appearance and general characteristics of another legitimate food, and they are given the same name, but they are not the same. Producers may counterfeit a food to increase their financial gains in the supply chain or when the product is sold.

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Counterfeiters use a number of tricks to make their products look like the real thing. For example, the use of colored lamps, tiles or canvas awnings to mask the real color of meat, or the reuse of official stamps or seals on products that have been illegally produced. The huge majority of counterfeits are almost always imperceptible to the consumer.

Fraud is an ancient problem, and fraudsters are usually well-informed as well as adaptable to new situations. For this reason, there are always new frauds on the market, adapted to take advantage of every new opportunity.

Oceana has published a report showing that in the USA, over 90% of fish and seafood is imported – but only 1% is inspected for fraud. The nationwide study demonstrated that fish and seafood may be incorrectly labeled up to 87% of the time. In Canada, fish and seafood was incorrectly identified up to 40% of the time.

As well as fish and seafood, there are other foods that are commonly counterfeited:

Cinnamon
Meats
Whipped cream
Eggs

ADULTERATED FOODS

Adulterated foods are generally impure: their essence and/or nature has undergone some kind of alteration. There are three different categories of adulteration that directly interfere with the characteristics of the food. They are: substitution, addition, and removal. As the name itself suggests, substitution of a product may be partial or complete. For example, the addition of melamine to milk, to increase levels of appropriate proteins.

Addition occurs in situations where inauthentic substances are put in to improve the visual quality of products of lower quality and commercial value, such as papaya seeds added to peppercorns or sand to salt.

And adulteration by removal happens when a nutritionally important compound is taken away, without the knowledge of the consumer. One example is when decaffeinated coffee is sold as pure coffee.

FOODS THAT ARE MOST OFTEN ADULTERATED:

Coffee
Olive oil
Saffron and other spices
Alcoholic beverages

HOW CAN FOOD COUNTERFEITING AND ADULTERATION BE SOLVED?

Recent studies demonstrate that food fraud is increasing. The factors that increase the risk of food fraud are: globalization, long supply chains, and trade on the Internet. However, because information is easily accessed, consumers are also increasingly aware of decisions by companies to improve security.

For this reason, the food and beverage sector has been seeking solutions to make its processes more transparent and its products more secure. Traceability technologies aim to provide exactly this. One of the most effective ways of combating food fraud is to implement product-based digital traceability. This is also known as serialization.

HOW DOES SERIALIZATION WORK?

Each product gets a unique identifier, that functions like an identity card. This ID serves to authenticate the product at each stage of its supply chain. Software that stores the serialization data of the products can identify products that are not legitimate, ensuring the security of the item and the company’s good name.

HOW CAN OPTEL HELP TO PROTECT YOUR PRODUCTS FROM COUNTERFEITING AND FRAUD?

OPTEL’s solutions protect your profitability by reducing the costs of recalls and minimizing the number of products lost in the supply chain. Our systems offer:

Information about the location, status and flow of your products through the supply chain in real time, from raw material to end user.
A guarantee of the provenance of your ingredients and supplies, including their origin, quality and authenticity.
Ways of rapidly identifying where your supply chain is at risk when a food security problem is reported.

DOWNLOAD CASE STUDY: COMBATING ILLEGAL PRODUCTION

OPTEL’s digital traceability solutions, both software and hardware, ensure a real-time view of the integrity of a supply chain. The granular data extracted by our solutions can easily be made available to certification agencies, partners of your chain, import authorities, and food security inspectors, giving all stakeholders the power to take informed decisions in real time.

Speak to one of our specialists on food and beverage traceability now!