There has been recent, renewed attention to the practice of intentional adulteration which has been triggered by several scandals and resulted in new expectations in regulations and global standards.  Past food defense initiatives mainly revolved around facility security and protective measures to prevent sabotage, tampering, or resulting acts of agroterrorism.  It has become apparent that the greater risk might come from economically motivated adulteration, or food fraud, which occurs through intentional substitution, willful blindness, gross negligence, mislabeling, etc.  Increased global trade has expanded our access to an international food supply and with it, an increased prevalence of fraud.

The potential impact of food fraud is two-fold: the risk to public health (milk melamine incidents) and the risk to brand trust (Whole Foods Chinese organic produce scandal).  Much of this sabotage is motivated by profit and not intended to cause harm.  Unfortunately, much of this fraud has caused a huge risk to public health through lack of knowledge on how the adulteration will affect certain populations.

Today’s consumer is demanding increased transparency and intention adulteration scandals can be devastating to a company’s brand and to the reputation of that country’s regulatory body that is charged with protecting our food supply. This is truly an emerging issue that is only going to increase unless companies and governmental bodies put forth mitigation strategies to prevent these acts. 

This session will hear from professionals that have dealt with food fraud, first-hand and those that specialize in preventing intentional adulteration.  Attendees will get a better understanding of the risks involved in this practice, the true prevalence in our global supply chain, how this has affected food legislation and global standards.  They will also learn ways to assess the risk of their raw material supply through vulnerability studies and use mitigation strategies to protect their company or organization.

Presentations