Food Fraud & Authenticity

Food fraud costs the industry billions and undermines safety, with regulatory focus intensifying after EU and US scandals. The session covers spectroscopy-based authentication (NIR, Raman, FTIR), DNA barcoding and meta-barcoding for species identification, blockchain traceability platforms (IBM Food Trust, FoodLogiQ), olive oil fraud detection (the recent EU enforcement actions), honey fraud and pollen analysis, seafood mislabelling, and the regulatory enforcement landscape. Discussion addresses AI-driven fraud detection from supply-chain data, stable isotope ratio analysis for geographic origin, the GFSI standards for food integrity, emerging spectroscopy-on-smartphone platforms, and the consumer demand for transparency driving authentication investment.