244 | From the frontlines: What the sharpest minds in food fraud are focused on right now |
Plus, new baby botulism outbreak and whats new in SQF 10
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Food fraud’s frontier: unexpected insights from the Authentic Food Conference
What’s new in SQF 10
3 food safety bites
Pink pineapples, part II
Food fraud news, emerging threats and incident reports
Happy Monday!
Readers often ask me if it’s hard to find things to write about each week. It isn’t. In fact, one of the toughest tasks is deciding what to leave out.
Last week I left out a call-back on pink pineapples (I'm playing catch-up on it in this issue). This week I had to cut my article on food fraud insights into two parts because it was getting too long.
And since I couldn’t decide whether you’d rather hear about a new baby botulism scare, BRCGS’ new position statements or an unusual shrimp recall, I found a way to squeeze them all in.
Also this week: plenty of food fraud news, with incidents from Asia and South Africa dominating the list.
Thanks for being here,
Karen
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Cover image: generated
Food fraud’s frontier: unexpected insights
The Authentic Food Conference (EFF-CoP, 2026) in Dublin drew together many of the thought leaders in food fraud prevention and food integrity from around the globe. I was there, as both an enthusiastic listener and presenter.
In this month’s supplement for paying subscribers, I’m sharing my notes from the conference over two weekly instalments.
You’ll find new insights into familiar incidents, expert insights from food-fraud-adjacent fields, and two easily overlooked elements of food fraud prevention that kept coming up across the two-day event.
Part I: New insights, challenges and solutions from across the supply chain, plus 6 unexpected food fraud facts.
Part II (published 29 June 2026): The neuroscience of dishonesty, how to be a successful fraudster, insights from an anti-corruption consultant.
Click the preview below for an insider’s view.
From the frontlines: What the sharpest minds in food fraud are focused on right now
The Authentic Food Conference (EFF-CoP, 2026) in Dublin drew together many of the thought leaders in food fraud prevention and food integrity from around the globe. I was there, as both an enthusiastic listener and presenter.
What’s new in SQF 10
The owners of the popular SQF food safety standard, the SQF Institute, have released the latest version of the SQF Code, Edition 10.
It will be used for audits on or after January 2027, depending on a successful GFSI benchmarking review.
The new code has major new elements related to food safety culture, change management and risk-based environmental monitoring, plus changes to audit scoring processes and a formatting change to support digital (rather than print-based) usage.
New Requirements
Food Safety Culture: Mandatory comprehensive Food Safety Culture Plan with measurable objectives, performance measures, communication channels, feedback mechanisms (e.g., anonymous reporting), and leadership commitment.
Change Management: New dedicated clause requiring documented procedures for managing changes to equipment, processes, personnel, suppliers, or materials — risks must be evaluated before implementation.
Environmental Monitoring: Risk-based environmental monitoring program is now mandatory; requires formal assessment to determine scope, frequency, and pathogens tailored to operational risks.
Updates and refinements
Enhanced root cause analysis expectations with identification of methods used.
Stronger training assessments — rigorous competency evaluations for critical training programs.
Enhanced recall testing requirements.
Consolidation: requirements for record-keeping, training, and CAPA clauses reorganised into separate sections.
Changes to product sector classifications (FSC): Honey added to FSC 18; all plant-based foods under FSC 14; FSC 19 renamed “Food Additive Manufacturing”.
Food fraud: improved wording for food fraud clauses (no changes to requirements).
The SQFI has published a webinar that explains the key operational and technical changes of Edition 10.
Watch now: SQF Edition 10. Business Value Now. Audit Readiness For 2027.
In case you missed it…
Change Management Templates
Change management requirements were added to the latest GFSI benchmarking document. They are progressively being included in food safety standards like SQF, BRCGS and FSSC 22000.
The Rotten Apple has an exclusive set of downloadable change management templates for readers, including a policy template, change log and impact assessment template.
Take a sneak peek at our Change Management Templates page here.
3 Quick Food Safety Bites
1. New baby botulism outbreak (arp!)
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating a second multistate outbreak of infant botulism linked to powdered infant formula. This outbreak, linked to Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Formula, follows an earlier, separate outbreak in late 2025 involving ByHeart brand formula. At least three infants have been hospitalised, and a recall of Nara products is underway in the United States.
ByHeart: Botulism outbreak was flagged in late 2025. Traced to contaminated dry whole milk powder supplied by a Californian organic milk supplier and processed by Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) in Nevada.
Nara Organics: Recall began in mid-June 2026 after infants in the United States became ill. Manufactured in Germany using milk powder from a German supplier.
Outbreak Investigation of Infant Botulism: Powdered Infant Formula (June 2026) | FDA
2. BRCGS position statements
The BRCGS, which owns food and consumer goods supply chain certification schemes including the popular BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety, has issued new Position Statements for four of its standards.
They are auditable: Position Statements are considered a formal extension of the standard and are audited against from their effective date.
Why they are issued: Position Statements are used as interim updates. They are issued by the BRCGS Technical Advisory Committee to patch gaps in standards, clarify confusing clauses, or update audit rules (such as how to handle unannounced audits) without waiting to publish a new version of the standard.
The new position statements are:
F926 Food Safety
P708 Packaging Materials
SD404 Storage & Distribution
AB310 Agents & Brokers
They apply to audits from 10 August 2026.
BRCGS Position Statements | BRCGS
3. Unusual shrimp recall
Cooked scampi shrimp have been recalled in Australia due to contamination with nitrofurazone (SEM).
Nitrofurazone is a synthetic antimicrobial compound historically used as a growth promoter and antibiotic in food-producing animals. It is now banned globally (including in Australia, the US, and the EU) for use in food-producing animals due to its carcinogenic and mutagenic properties.
The recall is unusual because the laboratory tests used to detect nitrofurazone look for a specific metabolic marker (semicarbazide, SEM) that can be present in shrimp exoskeletons for reasons not necessarily associated with its illegal use in farmed shrimp, leading to false positives and making a retail-level recall rare.
No filters needed: Pineapples get their glow on
Following last week’s just-for-fun note about illegal red-skinned pineapples, reader Theo Prins, of EUginius, the European GMO database, wrote to remind me about the PinkGlow pineapple – one of the few genetically modified fruits that have been approved for eating.
The German BVL and the Dutch WFSR operate the EUginius database of GMOs to help government agencies and private users find accurate information about genetically modified organisms (www.euginius.eu).
The PinkGlow pineapple is a true GMO, an organism that has had its genome altered using biotechnological techniques, whereas the RubyGlow, the pineapple with the red-coloured skin in last week’s issue, was developed using traditional plant breeding techniques.
Curiously, Theo noticed that, according to the ISAAA (an agricultural biotechnology knowledge-sharing network), the PinkGlow, which is allowed for food consumption in Canada and the USA, is not authorised for cultivation anywhere in the world. And he asks “So how can you eat this PinkGlow when you cannot cultivate it anywhere in the world? 😉”
I got curious too and tried to find out. It seems PinkGlow is only grown in Costa Rica by the fruit company Del Monte, which tightly controls access. A newspaper article from 2023 says the Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture authorised Del Monte to develop the variety, though I’m not sure exactly how that extends to commercial cultivation or why the authorisation isn’t mentioned in the ISAAA list.
I wrote about PinkGlow pineapples in Issue 35, way back in 2022:
This new variety of pink pineapple looks like it was bred just for Instagram. It’s a pretty pink colour, so you don’t need to add an Insta image filter to make the fruit look fabulous. Whole fruits are available in the USA for $30 to $50 each. That’s right, $50 for a pineapple.
If you’re American (except Hawaiians, sorry Hawaiians!) you can now go online and purchase a $50 pineapple with pink flesh that will be delivered straight to your door. Lucky you.
Below for paying subscribers: Food fraud news, horizon scanning and incident reports
📌 Food Fraud News 📌
In this week’s food fraud news
📌 New vulnerabilities for honey?
📌 Seafood labelling rules for restaurants
📌 Quantum physics in food fraud
📌 Incidents with yoghurt, halal certification, goose meat and more
🐟New country of origin labelling rules for seafood in restaurants (Australia)
Restaurants and other catering businesses such as takeaway outlets and hotels, in Australia, will be required to declare the origin of seafood items on their menus from July 2026, stating whether the seafood is Australian, imported or a mix of both.
Businesses can use single-letter codes (A, I or M) or full text declarations (e.g., “Contains imported seafood”) to denote origin.
Dishes not marketed as seafood, such as a supreme pizza that contains anchovies; liquid and powder forms of seafood such as fish sauce; and shelf-stable seafood such as canned tuna or bonito flakes, are exempt.