FOOD FRAUD – AN OUT OF CONTROL PHENOMENON

Abstract

This paper discusses a topical problem related to the issue of food integrity at the level of EU Member States. The method used to draw up the paper is the documentation based on the official websites of the EU Institutions (the European Commission, the European Parliament) and those at national level (MARD) presenting the approaches taken by them to remedy the situation regarding the double standard of food products marketed in different EU Member States. Furthermore, the articles used for the paper discuss concrete examples that show the difference in quality between the products marketed in Central and Eastern European countries as compared to those in the West. Thus, the paper addresses issues related to: the effects of the marketing of fraudulent products; concrete examples of non-authentic products encountered at national and international level, as well as the steps taken to combat food fraud. The final part of the paper presents some recommendations which could result in a reduced production/marketing of food products that do not comply with the „original recipes”.

Keywords

• Food fraud
• Food integrity
• The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs
• The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed