Food fraud database rises by 60%
The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention has added nearly 800 new records to its food fraud database, which increases the total number of records by 60%. The database’s first iteration compiled 1,300 records of food fraud published between 1980 and 2010. The update consists mostly of information published in 2011 and 2012 in scholarly journals and general media.
The USP, a non-profit scientific organization that also publishes the Food Chemicals Codex, defined food fraud as “a collective term that encompasses the deliberate substitution, addition, tampering or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients or food packaging, or false or misleading statements made about a product for economic gain.”
Top ingredients represented among new scholarly records in the database are olive oil, milk, saffron, honey and coffee. All five of those ingredients were in the top seven in the analysis of 1980-2010 records. Tea, fish, clouding agents and black pepper, none of which made the top 25 in 1980-2010, followed the top five ingredients in the new scholarly records.
Among the new media and other reports, milk, fish, turmeric, chili powder and cooking oil were the most represented products. They all made the top 12 in 1980-2010. Shrimp, lemon juice and maple syrup, none of which made the top 25 in 1980-2010, followed those five ingredients in the update of new media and other reports.
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