What works to prevent food fraud
Appendix 7: What works to prevent food fraud - codebook for the interviews
Set of tables to show the codebook information for interviews.
Alternative sectors
| Name | Importance: Level 1 | Importance: Level 2 | Importance: Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | cyber crime | - | - |
| drugs | Drugs | doping in sport | - |
| fashion | clothing; handbag | - | - |
| finance | accounts; accounting software; banks; digital fraud; software; tax evasion | backup protocols; credit rating; cutoff test | - |
| one health | public health; pharmaceutical | pharmacovigilance | - |
| tobacco | illicit tobacco; smuggling tobacco | - | - |
Challenges
| Name | Importance: Level 1 | Importance: Level 2 | Importance: Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| external drivers | BREXIT; cheap food; cost of living crisis; COVID; currency variations; impact of austerity; natural disaster - for example,: floods; political stability; price stability; supply shock/shortage; trade deals; war/conflict | - | - |
| lack of agility | lack of flexibility with rituals; lack of interconnectivity; lack of operationalisation | challenging status quo; contractual inflexibility; inspection myopia; normalisation; over-complex; ways of working | Checklist; ticking a box |
| lack of awareness/understanding | lack of communication; lack of familiarity; lack of guidance; lack of interoperability; lack of knowledge; lack of understanding | disclosure; ignorance of law; jargon | - |
| lack of information | lack of benchmark; lack of definition; lack of real time information | lessons | - |
| lack of resources | consolidation of laboratory services; cost of designing of predictive systems; cost of implementing predictive systems; lack of capacity; lack of equipment; lack of food experience; lack of food qualified officers; lack of funding/budget; lack of surveillance tools; lack of training | commercial decision; maintaining existing competencies; poor use of resource; poor response time for sampling reduction; informal sampling; sampling gaps; staff turnover |
too busy with the day job |
| lack of structure/standards | lack of statutory driver; lack of stringency | poor level of enforcement | - |
| lack of trust | building trust; failure of trust | Trust | trustworthy |
Recommendations
| Importance: Level 1 | Importance: Level 2 | Importance: Level 3 |
|---|---|---|
| connecting the dots | better external communication National Food Crime Unit (NFCU); additionality in data sharing; ecosystem for verification; good supplier relationships; international harmonisation of definitions; invest in communication; invest in technology; invest in testing; invest in training; invest in transparency; invest in trust; mapping the landscape; raise the bar to entering the food system; raise the bar to stay in business; real-time information for businesses; real-time information for environmental health officers (EHOs); ring fencing funding |
adapted solutions; foreign supplier verification programme; payment for food like feed enforcement. Minimum training standards; minimum capability of controls |
Elements of a Food Control Management System
| Name | Importance: Level 1 | Importance: Level 2 | Importance: Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appropriate technologies/tools | analogue tools | paperwork; pen and paper; records | - |
| Appropriate technologies/tools | analytical techniques | authentication techniques; bioinformatics; chromatography; DNA testing; fatty acid profile; forensics; genetically modified organization (GMO) testing; isotope analysis; next generation sequencing; nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); spectrometry (mass spectroscopy); x-rays | - |
| Appropriate technologies/tools | automation mechanisation, digital systems and IoT | apps; blockchain; data mining; digital platform; digital tools; digital traceability; drones; early warning systems; handheld devices; holograms; QR codes; tagging; tamper evident packaging; tamper proof seals | human technology interface; interoperability; signal |
| Culture | company culture; food fraud culture; food safety culture; mission; quality culture; shared values | audit rituals; human factors; positive culture; work environment | altruistic; aspiration; brand identity; ethics |
| Culture | economic culture | cost benefit analysis; economic climate; financial constraints; market dominance | financial records; margins; profit |
| Evidence, data, intelligence information | Data; databases; information; intelligence; incidents | commercially sensitive information; complaints (product recalls, scandals); credible sources of information; industry intelligence; information flow; information nodes; information sharing; intelligence filtering; intelligence gathering; intelligence led; procurement intelligence; Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) database | - |
| Evidence gathering | Auditing; observation; monitoring; surveillance; sampling; testing; triangulation; validation | audit depth; audit process; audit scope; audit standard; auditing standards; independence of audits; systems auditing unannounced audits; formal sampling; purposive sampling; random sampling; risk based sampling; suspect sample; surveillance programme; first, second, third party audits; traceability | audit reports; company check; in house surveillance; markers; metrics; objective evidence; routine checks; screening; scoring; snapshots; social media; spot checks; supplier reality check; trigger; whistleblowing; tracking tracing; |
| food crime | black economy; black markets; bribery; corruption; forgery; grey markets (grey imports); human (child labour, modern slavery, trafficking); illegal butchery; racketeering; theft (cash/stock); trademark infringements | illicit food system | the fake factory |
| food defence | bioterrorism; cyber crime (for example, ransomware); malicious contamination; malicious tampering | - | - |
| Food fraud | fraud detection | food fraud detection strategies; sampling strategy | Reactive; targeted (DNA speciation, chemical testing); untargeted |
| food fraud | food fraud diamond | competition; consequences; deterrence; ease of committing fraud; economic gain; getting away with it; motivation; opportunities; power/powerless; pressure (social pressure); rationalisation; situation |
food fraud awareness; definition of fraud; intentional vs unintentional (mistake); |
| food fraud | food fraud management | food fraud mitigation; food fraud strategy | external fraud; internal fraud; generic fraud protocols; site level fraud protocols; specific fraud protocols; |
| food fraud | food fraud prevention | ||
| food fraud | illicit food system | the fake factory | liability, litigation, fines sentencing |
| food fraud | perpetrators | criminal; fraudster; insiders; mafia (organised crime groups); offender | disgruntled employee; lorry drivers; occasional; occupational |
| threat agent | colours; insecticide; horsemeat; melamine; methanol; medication | carotenoid; copper sulphate; Sudan dyes; ethylene oxide; fipronil; nitrofuran | - |
| threat characterisation | addition (for example, water); adulteration; authenticity; composition; counterfeiting; deception; dilution; extortion; hacktivism; mislabelled; misrepresentation; negligence; smuggling; substitution; replacement; tampering; terrorism | adaption; accessing illegal waters; cheating; claims fraud; deliberate; desiccation; dishonesty; economically motivated adulteration (EMA); excess packaging; fake product; infractions; misdemeaneours; misdescribing; misleading; misuse; overrun; passing off; provenance (country of origin; geographic origin; protected geographic indication (PGI)); reboxing; replication; ripped off; similarity; swapping out; too good to be true |
- |
| threat target | alcohol | Alcohol by volume (ABV); champagne, gin spirits, vodka, whiskey, wine | - |
| threat target | fish and shellfish | ||
| threat target | Honey | Manuka honey | - |
| threat target | Meat | Aberdeen Angus beef, Welsh beef, Chicken; composite meat; condemned meat; ham; kebabs; poultry; Scottish beef; Scottish lamb; Welsh lamb; Stornaway black pudding; turkey ham | - |
| threat target | miscellaneous: animal feed and pet food; baby food CBD, chocolate, cocoa, coconut milk, eggs, food supplements, fruit juice, gluten, salt, Sicilian lemon, veterinary medicines | - | - |
| threat target | Nuts | cashews, ground almond, pistachios | - |
| threat target | Oil | olive oil, sunflower oil | - |
| threat target | Rice | basmati rice, risotto rice | - |
| threat target | Spices | cinnamon, cumin, madagascan vanilla, paprika, saffron, turmeric | - |
| food integrity | data integrity | aggregated data; anonymised data; data access; data analysis; data characteristics; data collection; data consolidation; data driven; data ethics; data governance; data platforms; data sharing; data trusts; data versus metadata; databases; digitalisation; granularity; managing data; non-targeted data; people data; personal data, unstructured data | Data |
| food integrity | people integrity | Equity; honest; walks the walk; decision making; mindset | emergent thinking; old thinking |
| food integrity | process integrity | animal welfare; environmental; food waste; GMP; good practice; standards; procedures; standard operating procedure; opacity; | halal; religious standards; retailer standards |
| food integrity | product integrity | product analysis; product fingerprinting; product sampling; product scanning; product testing; product quality; product inspection; | - |
| Food quality | Failure prevention versus detection | failure detection; quality failure; failure prevention; prevention gap; quality control; raw material quality assessment; specification; statistical process control | - |
| Food safety | food safety management | allergen controls; cadmium; conditions; due diligence; E coli; food hygiene; food poisoning; Clostridium botulinum; forever plastics; glass; mineral oils; palm oil; reasonable precautions; hygiene controls; | - |
| Guardians | supply chain guardians | abattoir; auditor; board of directors; brokers; butchers; buyers; caterers; co-packer; consolidators; consumer; consumer services; distributors; engineers; factory manager; farmer; fast food; food business operator (FBO); food manufacturers; food service; food technologist; maintenance team; management team; manager; managing director; micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs); official veterinarians; procurement staff; production staff; quality control staff; quality manager; restaurants; retailer; shop floor; takeaways; technical manager; technical staff; wholesalers | - |
| Guardians | Stakeholder guardians | accountants; accreditation body; auditor; British Retail Consortium (BRC); business associations; Campden BRI; Centres of Expertise; certification body; Codex; competent authority; consultants; EHOs; Eurofins; Europol; FERA; FIIN; Food Authenticity Network; food cluster groups; FSA; FSS; general public; GFSI; governance (international); governance (national); Global Meat Alliance; government laboratories; His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC); inspectors institutions; Interpol; laboratories; laboratory services; Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC); local government; Marine Stewardship Council; National Reference Laboratories; NFCU; primary authority; procurator fiscal; public analysts; regional regulatory groups; regulator; research bodies; Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL); Safe and Local Supplier Approval (SALSA); standards owner; trade organisations; trading standards; The Stationery Office (TSO); United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS); universities | - |
| Guardians | Guardianship | ability; accreditation; approval (approval criteria/approved premises); assurance; certification; competitors collaborating; | - |
| Hurdles | control measure; countermeasures; global countermeasures; specific countermeasures | hard controls: defensive space; infrastructure; site security: biometrics; keypads; thumbprint recognition; video surveillance; soft controls: training; adapting training to audience; education; expertise; past experience; knowledge; staff onboarding; |
active controls; formalisation |
| Hurdles | Mass balance assessment | checks and balances; ingredients; inventory system; invoices; menus; order; packaging control; production records; bill of materials; production list; stock system; sales; stock control; transactions | reality checking |
| Operationalisation | accountability; capability; communication; competence; complexity; credibility; gaining trust; holistic; leanness; multidimensionality; permeation; reputation; responsibility; sophisticated; transparency; visibility; | business attitude; capable people; capable systems; skillset; process led thinking; structured decisions; integrated management systems; judgement; linear thinking; live systems - real-time detection; management commitment; organisational behaviour; organisational structure; preventative measures; real-time systems; redistribution; siloed thinking; systems thinkers; | accessible; barriers, bias; competitive advantage; embeddedness; farm to fork; fragmentation; non-competitive aspects; product development; speed of response; transactional; |
| Risk | - | acceptable risk; aggregate risk; biggest risk; external risk; food fraud risk; food fraud risk assessment; high risk; high risk countries; high risk ingredients; internal risk; long term risk; low risk; reputational risk; risk assessment; risk averse; risk awareness; risk matrices; risk minimisation; risk mitigation; risk prioritisation | dynamic; detectability; likelihood; perfect storm; severity; short termism; uncertain |
| Supply chain | upstream prevention | buying; buying on price; dedicated suppliers; designated suppliers; online sales; packaging; preferential supply chain; reputable source; reputable supplier; supplier assurance programme; supplier delisting; supplier information; supplier questionnaire; contingency suppliers; first tier suppliers; second tier suppliers; spot purchasing; supplier approval; supply base; supply chain relationships; third tier suppliers; trusted suppliers; supply chain mapping; supply chain standards; global supply chains; integrated supply chains; supply chain understanding; supply chain verification; | downstream; export; smaller supply mentality; primary production; import sampling; supply deficit re. supply; supply friction; trade offs; unlevel playing field; value; value proposition; |
Regulatory aspects
| Name | Importance: Level 1 | Importance: Level 2 | Importance: Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official controls (legal) | Compliance; consumer protection; coordination; coordinated intelligence sharing; corroboration; hybridisation; multi-agency collaboration; inspection; integrating food standards; labelling | advice; closure orders; unfair trading; confidence in management; improvement; inspection rituals; derogation; | - |
| Policing | cautioning; continuity; crime prevention; crime reduction; prosecution; situational awareness | analysts; crime intelligence system; crime reduction officer; four Ps; intelligence apparatus; intelligence officer; interview; Neighbourhood watch; police priorities; | career structure; police; |
Revision log
Published: 10 October 2023
Last updated: 12 April 2024