FOOD
Do You Know What You Are Eating? A closer look at food fraud means buyers must learn to be vigilant BY MOHAMMAD ABDULLAH
M
isrepresentation, substitution, mislabeling and other methods of food fraud never stop. For example, as processing meat involves several steps, in 2013 people buying “beef ” in Europe were actually buying beef mixed with horsemeat. University of Guelph (Canada) researchers found that 20% of sausage samples collected from grocery stores nationwide were mislabeled and cross-species contaminated. The Oceana seafood fraud investigation report, which DNAtested 1,200+ samples from hundreds of U.S. retail locations, revealed that one third of the samples were mislabeled. In 2014, an Iowa food supplier was charged with selling $4.9 million worth of beef as “halal” (The Guardian, Dec. 15, 2014). Peterborough (U.K.)-based Dutch Bangla Ltd.’s 100+ tons of “halal lamb” was actually ground turkey (BBC News, March 9, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/ news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-39220397). Last December, The New Straits Times (Malaysia) unearthed a meat cartel that had been forging halal documents for beef for 40 years, even passing off horse/kangaroo meat as beef (www.nst. com.my/news/nation/2020/12/651322/cartel-crackdown-neither-beef-nor-halal). Such scandals should also be a wakeup call for those who give blanket acceptance of consuming meats and foods of the People of the Book (Ahle-Kitab). According to the Interpol’s July 22, 2020 “Operation Opson,” more than $40 million worth of potentially dangerous fake food and drink was seized, involving 19 organized crime groups and the arrest of 407 individuals worldwide (www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2020/Food-fraud-in-times-of-COVID-19). The FDA defines food fraud as “economically motivated adulteration” (EMA). Simply put, food fraud is committed when you find out that the food you purchased is inauthentic — it’s not what you paid for. According to another report, higher-value fish (e.g., red snapper, catfish, and salmon) are substituted with cheaper and more abundant fish. Extra virgin olive oil is often blended with cheaper oils (www.newyorker.com/search/q/errico/ page/2/r,n; Tom Mueller, “Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil,” 2011). Honey is adulterated with high-fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners. Orange juice is watered down. Color additives, such as Sudan red dye, 56 ISLAMIC HORIZONS JULY/AUGUST 2021
are added to enhance the color of poor quality paprika. Melamine is added to diluted milk to increase protein contents (www.foodsafety-experts.com/food-safety/ food-fraud-prevention/). Today, food fraud is a global business worth more than $50 billion annually. The Grocery Manufacturers of America estimates that the annual EMA cost in the U.S. ranges between $10 to $15 billion. It remains a significant issue for food processors. The 2019 Food Safety Insight survey revealed that 36% of U.S./Canada and 33% of international food processors consider EMA a significant issue. For combined U.S./Canada and international food producers, 15% reported detecting food fraud in their supply chains, and 29% currently use analytical testing to detect it. Food commodities for which EMA was a significant issue were spices (56%), seafood (44%), beverages (42%), meat (36%), dairy products (35%), fruit and vegetables (31%) and grains and milled products (24%) (https:// fsns.com/news/an-update-on-food-fraud). The requirements for regulatory compliance on mitigating vulnerability generally focus on food safety, not religious dietary requirements. One 2019 survey presented in the Journal of Food Science identified overall food fraud as a “food safety” issue (86%) and “food fraud” issue (50%) (pubmed.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/31546281/). Consequently, many such incidents go undetected or unreported because they usually don’t result in a food safety risk and consumers often may not see the quality problem. This is especially relevant to halal meat consumers, who generally look at the “halal” logo and not necessarily at the product’s quality attributes. Those who have become more conscious about what they consume and want to purchase halal “grass-fed” or halal “certified-organic” meats may not find these products in the ethnic grocery stores and supermarkets, although they do carry halal fresh, frozen and Ready-to-Eat (RTE) meat and poultry products. The paradox is that some of the plants that produce conventional “grass-fed” or conventional “certified-organic” meats may be halal accredited and produce halal meat on an as-needed basis. A while back, after reading an article about “certified-organic” in LinkedIn, I wondered why halal “certified-organic” beef is unavailable. So far, my post has been viewed
