When we buy food, of course, we believe that the product is consistent with the label. However, recent revelations that many honey products may be adulterated have led many to question that trust.
While affected producers are still challenging the results of the report, the scandal highlights a bigger problem that cost industry and consumers billions of dollars in losses and could put consumers at risk-food fraud.
What is food fraud?
Food fraud is basically the sale of low-quality, high-priced products. This may be through substitution, dilution, tampering with or distorting food, ingredients or packaging.
Because the purpose of food fraud is to be unknown, it is difficult to know its true scope, but the potential profits and complexity of modern food supply chains mean that it may become more common.
What foods are at risk?
High-value and high-demand foods are easy to fake. Brands famous for their quality can be targets of fake labels and copycat brands.
Foods with labels such as "organic" and "stocking" can be sold at high prices, but their origins may be difficult to trace, leading to fraudulent use of the labels by adulterers.
Some fish may be marketed as more expensive species because ordinary people don't know.
Processed and mixed products are also easy to forge or mix with cheaper substances.
Dilution is a common method of fraud in liquid products. Honey can be diluted with cheaper syrup such as sugar cane or rice syrup.
Similarly, olive oil can be diluted with cheaper oil, such as sunflower oil or olive fruit residue (waste oil squeezed from olive oil).
Fruit juices can be diluted with water and added with sugar, pigments or flavoring agents to make them look thicker.
Solid products can be expanded with cheaper materials to increase their weight. In 2016, it was revealed that cellulose was added to some shredded cheese.
Tea, coffee and spices can be added to the mixture with other plant materials.
What harm?
Alternatives are not always harmful-after all, there is a real problem with the traitor's business. However, they may have different nutritional and biological characteristics from the original products.
In general, it is perfectly legal to add these products to foods, as long as they are properly labeled. Otherwise, consumers may buy and pay high prices for non-existent health benefits.
But sometimes the added product is harmful. In 2008, melamine was added to China's milk powder to increase protein content and mask the fact that it was diluted. This resulted in multiple infant deaths and thousands of cases of infant kidney disease.
People with food allergies and intolerance may be particularly vulnerable to food fraud for threat. If the product does not have a true label, the allergen warning and ingredient list will not be trusted.
Detection of food fraud
Detection of food fraud depends on testing. With the development of new tests, we do a better job of detecting fraud, but fraudsters will always be looking for new ways to deceive them.
Current tests on false honey focus on plant sources of sugar; most honey comes from the C3 pathway. Sugar or corn syrup, which is usually used to dilute honey, is C4 sugar, so this is the official test method. However, rice, beet and wheat syrup all come from C3 plants, so these can still pass common tests.
The latest report uses NMR tests, a new, more sensitive way to identify all molecules in the product.
Newer technology will help combat future food fraud. These include tracers that can be used to label food using inks, biomarkers, DNA fingerprinting and supply chain black chain monitoring.
While it may seem shocking to hear reports of counterfeit and adulterated food, it may actually be a good thing, because it means that testing and monitoring is normal.
How to protect yourself from fraud
Check the country of origin label.
If the products are made in Australia and come from Australian raw materials, they must comply with our standards and regulations. For imported ingredients or products, the food chain becomes more complex and difficult to track.
The honey involved in the latest scandal is a mixture of Australian and imported honey (mostly Chinese honey).
Buy from a trusted retailer.
Low-cost products and "replacement" retailers online can increase your risk of buying fake goods. If prices are incredibly low, it may suggest that the product comes from unregulated markets.
Buying whole foods-whole cans of spices or whole pieces of cheese-is harder to adulterate than bulk or chopped products.