Incidence of fraud and adulterations in ASEAN food/feed exports: A 20-year analysis of RASFF’s notifications

Abstract

This paper explored the occurrence of food fraud and adulterations (FFA) in exports from the Association of South- East Asia Nations (ASEAN), with implications on food chain and international trade. Data from European Union Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (EU RASFF) about FFA notifications on ASEAN exports for a period of 20 years (2000–2020) were extracted and analyzed. Results from this study revealed that of all ten ASEAN member countries, seven had cases of FFA notified in the database with Thailand (n = 47, 32%) and the Philippines (n = 37, 26%) receiving the highest frequency of notifications in the region. There was a statistical significance difference in frequency of notifications received on products from these seven countries with herbs and spices ranking highest (n = 22, 15%). Highest notifications of FFA on ASEAN exports came from the United Kingdom (n = 31, 21%). All the seven countries experienced border rejections and consequent destruction of food products especially on exports from Indonesia where 95% of product with FFA were border rejected. Border rejections on products from these countries were significantly different. Therefore, a thorough implementation system, appropriate testing and constantly updating each country’s FFA database could aid actions in curtailing future events.

Agri-Food Fraud in a Geographic Area in Relation to Global Health: A Probe into the Perceptions, Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices, and Concerns of Cameroonian

“…For instance, mislabeling, a prevalent form of food fraud, has shown a concerning escalation, surging from 33% in 2015 to a staggering 47% in 2019 globally [9]. As predicted by the Consumers Brand Association, 2021, food fraud may cost between 10 -15 billion USD loss to the global food industry hence affecting 10% of all global food products that are being commercially sold [10]. Global health is intricately linked to the authenticity and safety of food products.…”

Incidents and Potential Adverse Health Effects of Serious Food Fraud Cases Originated in Asia

“…There was an absence of health certificates for 279 reported cases, while 99 cases included an improper health certificate, 52 cases found fraudulent health certificates, and one case involved an invalid health certificate (Table 2). Owolabi and Olayinka (2021) investigated the incidents of food fraud and adulterations (FFA) in foods imported into the European Union from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) [9]. The food fraud occurrences were extracted and analyzed from the RASFF and Food Fraud and Adulterations (FFA) databases from 2000 to 2020.…”

“…Among the 10 ASEAN member countries, the highest number of food fraud cases were found in foods imported from Thailand (47 cases), followed by the Philippines (37 cases). Herbs and spices were the products imported from this region with the highest incidents of food fraud and adulteration [9]. Recently, a molecular-level food adulteration database has been established for predicting the presence of illegal food additives based on molecular fingerprints and structural similarities.…”

Assessment of cheese frauds, and relevant detection methods: A systematic review

“…Also, among the 15 reviewed dairy products, 10 of the cheeses had less fat than claimed ( Montgomery et al, 2020 ). In another study, Owolabi et al (2021) observed that according to the Food Fraud Database, dairy products had the highest fraud rate among food products ( Owolabi & Olayinka, 2021 ). Regulatory agencies spend a lot of money every year to assess and reduce FF because it has a fundamental connection to nutrition and public health ( Spink et al, 2019 , Bouzembrak et al, 2018 ).…”