Food Fraud

[cakewalk]

Does "food fraud" have a legal definition? I don't see how anything can move forward without that. Saying that food shouldn't contain anything it's not supposed to isn't really very helpful. It sounds more sensationalist than anything else. I mean, my Bubby made chicken soup every Friday and she never put ginger in her soup. So I can say that chicken soup that contains ginger actually contains things it is not supposed to. If the terms are not well-defined, it's just going to end up with a lot of people screaming but nothing being accomplished. The whole food fraud thing is so huge, I don't think it can be approached by using that term only.

[liuzhou]

I think you are hugely misunderstanding. The point is not whether or not it contains ginger. The point is whether or not it contains chicken.

 

[Martin Fisher]

Food fraud defined.

[cakewalk]

The point is that "food fraud" is much too vague a term to be useful.

[Martin Fisher]

I think everyone knows what food is.

 

Fraud?

"In law, fraud is deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain"

 

Black's Law Dictionary definition of fraud, here.

 

[cakewalk]

Well then, it should be easy.

[Deryn]

While technically it 'should' be easy, it is not always so easy (or cheap) to uncover, investigate, test for and prosecute.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[liuzhou]

16 hours ago, Deryn said:

While technically it 'should' be easy, it is not always so easy (or cheap) to uncover, investigate, test for and prosecute.

 

 

That doesn't mean we shouldn't.

[Deryn]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

That doesn't mean we shouldn't.

 

Of course not. We should.

[Martin Fisher]

A spectrometer in every household! 

[Deryn]

Have read several articles recently about how grocery stores may distort 'best before' and 'expiry' dates by removing stickers and replacing them when the first noted one has been reached. Have caught them in the act myself. Not too long ago, while shopping for Naan bread, I noticed that a store was sloppy in pulling this little trick - they didn't remove the original sticker, just put a new one on top and it was not hard to see that they had changed it to indicate that the expiry date was now extended by a week. I brought this to the attention of the manager and he removed the offending items - but the very next week, I saw the same thing on the same breads! Not sure what one does in that case other than just not buy there any more - but, up here, the options for places to shop are limited.

 

I never buy the 'marinated' salmon or meat offerings either since I am well aware they take proteins that are probably ready to 'go off' and hide that, extending the 'shelf life' with repackaging (and charging more than for fresh).

 

Trust lost is very hard to earn back!

[Lisa Shock]

Here's a bit of news from Albrighton, Shropshire. Apparently a chef named Laura Goodman decided to tamper with a vegan patron's food, then brag about it on FaceBook. The fact that she deleted her posts after a public outcry means that she felt justified in her actions for hours afterwards, and had no clue that she could have harmed someone with an allergy or a medical condition such as gout. Not to mention emotional harm related to violating religious beliefs, and overall confidence in controlling one's own diet. At any rate, looks like the establishment's online reviews and ratings have plummeted.