Summary of the AOAC-Sponsored Workshop Series Related to the Global Understanding of Food Fraud (GUFF): Mobilization of Resources for Food Authenticity Assurance and Food Fraud Prevention and Mitigation

Abstract

Background: Reports of incidents associated with the misrepresentation of food products as well as the adulteration of their composition leading, at times, to significant public health impacts are being recorded.

Objective: This paper aims at summarizing the outputs of three workshops dedicated to the theme "Global Understanding of Food Fraud" (GUFF), held in Quebec City in Canada (April 2017), Beijing in the People's Republic of China (October 2017) and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (October 2018).

Method: Based on the contributions made at these workshops, the paper reviews current knowledge related to food fraud shared by experts and stakeholders representing the food industry sector, food regulators both domestically and internationally and scientists from Academia. It also discusses approaches available to the industry across the food supply chain to predict, prevent, and possibly mitigate food fraud, inclusive of targeted and non-targeted methods of analysis.

Results and conclusions: The paper offers a discussion on areas warranting the mobilization of efforts and resources of the food stakeholder community to reach consistent and accessible guidance on food fraud prevention, validated analytical methods along with an increased emphasis on prevention in food regulatory measures targeting food fraud. Further development is needed to reach consistent and accessible guidance on food fraud prevention, validated analytical methods, along with an emphasis on food fraud prevention.

Highlights: Food fraud is receiving increased attention from consumers, regulators, and industry. International food fraud experts were invited to three workshops. Contributions and conclusions from the workshops are reported and discussed.