29/12/2025
Food fraud rarely announces itself as “fraud.”
The November 2025 EU Agri-Food Fraud Suspicion Report is a good reminder of that.
When we hear food fraud, many people still think of:
- illegal ingredients
- adulterated raw materials
- deliberate product substitution
But the data shows something different.
📊 What stands out in the report
- Dietetic foods, food supplements & fortified foods: 78 cases
- Meat & meat products (excluding poultry): 17
- Cocoa, coffee & tea: 15
And more importantly:
📌 Most cases relate to records, claims, and information — not physical contamination.
Examples include:
- nutrition or health claims that cannot be substantiated
- “gluten-free”, “unsweetened”, or “reduced sugar” claims that don’t meet criteria
- product composition not matching what is declared
- misleading product information on websites and in e-commerce
- misuse of product names or traditional denominations
⚠️ Detection trend
Most issues are identified by:
- market control
- border control
- consumers and media
- Only a small number are detected through companies’ own checks.
That raises a practical QA question:
👉 Are our internal controls focused enough on claims, records, and market communication — or mainly on the factory floor?
📄 Full report (worth reviewing): see comment
