Introducing the Food Fraud Prevention Cycle (FFPC) A dynamic information management and strategic roadmap
Abstract Food fraud intentional deception for economic gain using food is an emerging research field due to increased awareness of the health hazard, increased regulatory scrutiny, increased awareness of the costs, a seemingly endless stream of identified incidents, and new compliance requirements. Beyond the laws and regulations that are being more routinely applied, commercial standards have expanded to address food fraud. Specifically, since January 2018 the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) has required that Food Safety Management Systems include a Food Fraud Vulnerability Assessment (FFVA) and a Food Fraud Prevention Strategy (FFPS) When an entity begins to address the topic, the first consideration is what is food fraud and includes is food fraud really a problem, the focus then shifts to how to detect food fraud including the development of test methods. At that point, there are more fundamental and practical implementation questions such as how to start, what to do, and how much is enough, and how to measure success. The review of these questions has resulted in one unmet need for a method to manage the information and activities in the FFPS. Consideration of these concepts provided the realization that there was a need to connect the steps into an interconnected and dynamic system. The objective was to connect everything to everything. The Food Fraud Prevention Cycle (FFPC) was developed to meet this unmet need. This research paper includes four illustrative examples including a response to: new public policy priorities, a new food fraud incident, and a review of a new countermeasure or control system. The adoption of a holistic and all encompassing information management cycle will enable a harmonized approach and the sharing of best practices.
Food Control