Fraud

Food fraud often refers to the intentional act of defrauding consumers of food or its ingredients for financial gain. However, it is sometimes difficult to determine what constitutes fraud in food production. Consider food adulteration, a type of food fraud, as an example: the concept of what should be seen as adulterant changes over time. Salt used to be considered as an adulterant added to disguise the taste in rancid butter. By contrast, many ingredients once seen as harmless, such as saccharine, have come to be considered as adulterants. Although the types of food fraud evolve with time and with scientific and technological advances, “deliberation” and “financial gain” on the part of food providers are two main features in the definitions of food fraud. The ...