Model for food fraud screening introduced

Researchers have developed a risk assessment-based model for organisations in the food sector who want to screen for vulnerabilities in the supply chain.

The Food Fraud Initial Screening (FFIS) model - developed by a team led by John Spink at Michigan State University in the US - tries to build early warning systems into the enterprise resource management (ERM) systems already deployed in most corporations.

The overall objective is to create a system that gives a read-out on the broad risks faced by a company, which could then be supplemented by more in-depth, product-specific evaluations, and form the first stage in a food fraud prevention programme."A by-individual-product assessment is not always practical as an initial step," write the authors of the paper, which is published in the journal Food Control (November 2016 edition).

The various stages of setting up the FFIS - along with a review of the current food fraud environment - are published in the paper. The steps involve defining the scope and basic terms, carrying out an incident review, screening for health hazards and economic impact and ranking the level of risk.

"Food Fraud incidents can negatively impact sales, brand equity [and] market capitalization, violate regulations … and even lead to the criminal prosecution of corporate leaders," write the authors of the paper.

"Emerging regulations and industry standards are requiring risk and vulnerability assessments of food fraud as a prerequisite to countermeasures and decision-making systems," they add.

The next steps are to refine the FFIS, integrate it with product-specific assessments, and link the whole to the ERM corporate 'risk map', which in turn will lead to "more efficient and effective risk mitigation planning."

"It will also maintain the focus on preventing food frauds that pose health hazards and threaten enterprises' financial viability."