Food fraud: insights from investigating a near-fatal poisoning with global implications

Abstract

SUMMARYRisks of food fraud have been exacerbated by ongoing supply-chain shortages and reduced regulatory oversight caused by the COVID19 pandemic. Since food fraud cases involve adulterants that are deliberately disguised, resulting poisonings are especially difficult to investigate and treat. We encountered a near-fatal poisoning with “weight-loss candlenuts” that are readily available online. We leveraged state-of-the-art high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and discovered that commonly used spectral libraries and toxin/poison standards panels do not contain the materials needed to identify the causative agents of this nearly lethal poisoning. By building new methods, we ultimately found ‘Nuez de la India’ contain high levels of uncommon cardiac glycosides, while deploying HRMS as a novel ‘chemical fingerprinting’ tool revealed them to be mislabeled yellow oleander seeds. Our work presents a rapid investigative strategy to empower future investigations, and provides guiding principles to food safety programs for treating, and indeed preventing, these potentially fatal poisonings that are increasing worldwide.

Enhancing Food Integrity through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: A Comprehensive Review

“…Important elements of food integrity encompass the prevention of food fraud, the assurance of food safety, the guarantee of traceability across the supply chain, and the promotion of sustainability and transparency in food production and distribution processes, with the ultimate goal of protecting the health and well-being of consumers. With regard to food safety, it continues to present serious hazards to public health, given the persistent threats posed by contamination incidents and food-associated disease outbreaks [1][2][3][4][5], being driven by the ever-increasing demand for cheaper products, low-cost manufacturing, and the increasing globalization of the food supply chain, amongst other factors. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, consumption of unsafe food results in the loss of 33 million healthy years of life annually [6,7].…”