The war on labels: food mislabeling and the tech solution

In 2013, the food industry was rocked by one of the largest meat fraud scandals heard of in recent times: the European horse meat scandal, where it was discovered that a large number of meat products being sold to brands as “beef” actually had horse meat in them — from traces of horse meat to 100% horse meat and not beef at all.
Big brands such as Burger King and Nestlé pulled out stocks of their products after discovering they contained horse meat. Nestlé even stated that they weren’t pulling out because of a health issue, but because the replacement of beef with horse meat meant misrepresentation — which subsequently meant they weren’t giving consumers the highest quality of products that they promised.
This is just one of the most well-known examples of food fraud in the form of mislabeling. Whether intentional or unintentional, mislabeling can have dire consequences, not just economically — in cases where the mislabeled product is an allergen, or in cases where the misrepresented product contains ingredients that are not supposed to be ingested by humans, this could have serious repercussions on health as well.
Undeclared allergens
In the US, undeclared allergens remain to be the top reason for food recalls, accounting for 46% of all recall cases. These recalls are done by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who issues allergy alerts whenever cases of undeclared allergens on labels arise.
The reasons aren’t always intentional — more often than not, the omission of these ingredients on the label are an honest mistake. It could also be a mistake committed due to changing labeling and safety warning guidelines. Regardless, undeclared allergens are a serious matter, especially with over 200,000 people in the US alone requiring emergency care each year for food allergies.
Misbranding and misrepresentation
As mentioned, the European horse meat fraud scandal is a good example to illustrate misrepresentation in food labels. This is where intentional food fraud comes in: producers and suppliers intentionally selling substandard, adulterated or altogether different products and claiming they are something other than what the label says they are.
The issue with commercially processed grated parmesan cheese is another good example of this. It has been discovered that brands offering “100% pure parmesan cheese” aren’t offering 100% pure cheese at all — or even the right kind of cheese at that. Parmesan is mixed with a large amount of cellulose, a type of wood pulp used as an anti-clumping agent. In other cases, manufacturers use cheddar instead of Romano cheese
Wine, on the other hand, serves as an ideal example for both misbranding and misrepresentation. Different wines coming from different regions will have different names — and food fraudsters tend to try and pass off cheaper wine varieties for more expensive, more exclusive high-end bottles. For example, they could be using a cheaper, locally-sourced bottle of bubbly and selling it as French champagne.
How can technology help?
Technology is being developed to track food sources and ingredients so that consumers can easily check what’s in their food on a database. Both blockchain and cloud technologies play a role in this — blockchain, by offering a secure decentralized, open-source depository of information, and cloud technology storing previous recall information to ensure that you’re eating safe.
The FDA also makes available online the list of most recent food recalls on their searchable database, allowing consumers to check the history of recalls for particular products.
Another technological option being explored is the use of edible microtags to track food products. This should allow consumers to easily scan food and find out details including their date and place of production, ingredients (if applicable) and any food safety warnings — a scanner or their mobile device.
There is no single solution — governments and developers have to work together to crack down on food fraud. But the solutions being developed today are a good start. Consumers must be given tools to inform them and help them stay vigilant in monitoring what goes onto their tables.
Learn how we at SparX aim to solve the problem by visiting our website. You can also read more about the rising tide of counterfeit products and our solution here. Plus, you can watch how we’re taking the SparX blockchain platform to fight counterfeits and fraudulent products by watching our video below:
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