Issue #5 2021-09-13
Issue #5 2021-09-13
The pig pandemic that's threatening your bacon, plus not-fake tuna and hypodermics in supermarkets
Pigs are having a very bad year (everything you need to know about African Swine Fever)
A sort-of boring report from the EU Food Fraud Network (except for the part about supplements)
Subway’s tuna sandwiches, authentic or not?
Food intentional contamination incident in London
Food fraud incidents and horizon scanning updates from the past week
Hi,
Welcome to Issue 6 of The Rotten Apple, a weekly newsletter for professionals, policy-makers and purveyors. Thanks for joining me.
This week is African Swine Fever (AFS) Action Week. If you thought humans were having a bad pandemic, check out what is happening to pigs. This issue explains the basics of AFS, plus links to a week of free webinars, hosted by the USDA.
Also this week; how buying food supplements online probably won’t cure your COVID (spoiler alert!), Subway’s masterful handling of food fraud litigation and an incident with a hypodermic needle in a supermarket (or three).
As always, this issue ends with an update on food fraud incidents and horizon scanning news from the past week.
Thanks for reading!
Karen
Supply Chains
COVID for pigs (but worse)... Everything you need to know about African Swine Fever
Pigs are having their own COVID moment. And it’s even worse than our human pandemic.
African Swine Fever has been declared a panzootic (a pandemic in animals). It spreads among domesticated and wild pigs. It is deadly to pigs, with a mortality rate close to 100%. There is no vaccine or treatment.
It does not pose a threat to human health. But - unsurprisingly - it represents an enormous threat to the global pork industry.
The current panzootic started in 2018 in China. It spread across many countries in Asia, plus Europe. It has now spread to the Americas for the first time in 40 years and has been found in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.
The virus that causes the disease is very resistant to decontamination on surfaces, so it can be spread by objects such as shoes, equipment and vehicles. Contaminated feed and pig-to-pig contact are also transmission routes.
And here’s the really scary thing for global food supplies: African Swine Fever can also be spread by pork meat and pork by-products. The movement of pork products across borders can introduce the disease to previously unaffected countries.
This week is African Swine Fever Action Week. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) is hosting a series of free daily webinars addressing prevention and risk mitigation strategies to help protect the US and Canada from this deadly disease.
In short: 🍏 African Swine Fever is really bad for pigs 🍏 It’s causing havoc in the pork industries of Asia and has spread to some parts of Europe 🍏 It’s been found close to the USA in the Caribbean 🍏 The USDA is freaking out and has declared African Swine Fever Action Week 🍏 USDA’s Action Week Webinars start today 13th September 🍏
Action week webinars registration page:
Food Fraud
FFN Annual Report: not exciting (except online supplements)
For anyone who has been following food fraud issues, the latest report of the European Food Fraud Network (FFN) does not contain many surprises. The exception - for me - was in the category of food supplements. Compared to previous years, 2020 saw more notifications about food supplements, 602 in total. They were mostly related to the online sale of products and many were notified due to the presence of health claims related to COVID-19 prevention or treatment.
That’s right; take a food supplement, fix COVID. Or something like that…
The report describes how the European Commission and member states took immediate action against the supplement makers/sellers. The action was launched in April 2020. It resulted in a significant number of fines and injunctions being raised against the sellers, who were mostly e-commerce/online marketplaces. In addition to the fines and injuctions, many products were removed from the market or their health claims were removed or amended.
The FFN reports that this has resulted in better communication and collaboration with the major online, e-commerce platforms. That should make future enforcement actions easier, which is great news.
About the FFN:
EU Agri-Food Fraud Network (FFN) is a body managed by the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante) of the European Commission. The 2020 annual report has just been published. The FFN provides a mechanism for members to “exchange information of suspicious non-compliances and potential violations of the EU agri-food chain legislation”. The report discusses notifications raised in the system, but stresses that these are not all confirmed as actual violations.
In short: 🍏 Online marketplaces in Europe in 2020 were selling food supplements with misleading claims about their ability to prevent or treat COVID 🍏 The EU Food Fraud Network collected information about these products 🍏 European authorities immediately launched action, which resulted in the products and/or claims being removed, plus some fines and injunctions 🍏 Better communication and collaboration between EU authorities and e-commerce marketplaces has resulted 🍏
Read the report (it’s actually a great report, very well put-together and easy-to-read):
https://ec.europa.eu/food/system/files/2021-09/ff_ffn_annual-report_2020_1.pdf (note this is a direct download link)
Food Fraud
Getting in a flap over tuna
No tuna in Subway’s tuna fish sandwiches? Say what??? In January this year, multiple media reports about food fraud in Subway tuna sandwiches came across my desk. I ignored them. Here’s why.
The claims were raised by two Subway customers who filed a lawsuit in California against the company. They alleged that there was no tuna DNA in Subway’s tuna fish. They claimed that independent testing had “repeatedly affirmed” that the tuna sandwich ingredient was fraudulent. Some media reports suggested that the ingredient contained no fish whatsoever. Subway immediately and emphatically denied the claims.
Here’s why I didn’t believe the claims and why the allegations were not posted to our Food Fraud Risk Information Database (Trello board).
1) For the claims to be true, Subway would have to have knowingly sourced non-tuna ingredients for their tuna products, or they would have to have been misled by their suppliers.
Big brands like Subway do make mistakes when sourcing their ingredients – think Jimmy John’s sprouts – but the mistake typically occur for locally sourced fresh produce, where individual business units do the procurement. Tuna fish for sandwiches is heavily processed and shelf stable, so it can be purchased, stored and distributed at scale. To me, it seemed likely that Subway would have had a limited number of suppliers for tuna in the US. Less suppliers means less likelihood of receiving fraudulent product.
Would a mistake with tuna be a problem for Subway? You bet it would. Is it probable that Subway has organised strict commercial terms around authenticity of tuna with its supplier? For sure. Is Subway a big enough customer that tuna suppliers would ‘do the right thing’ so as not to risk their contract? Absolutely! Are tuna processors aware of the need to put only tuna fish into cans labelled as tuna? One hundred percent.
Would Subway risk its brand by knowingly selling ‘fake’ tuna to its customers? I don’t believe they would.
In my opinion, it’s unlikely that Subway was deceived by its suppliers and it’s even more unlikely that they would have knowingly ‘tricked’ their customers with non-tuna fish.
2) Recovering DNA from processed food can be tricky.
Following the lawsuit, two prominent US media outlets commissioned their own studies to confirm – or deny – the claims. The New York Times study found ‘no ample tuna DNA in the sample’ and said the species of fish couldn’t be identified.
The Inside Edition study did find tuna in the sandwiches they purchased. Their expert suspected that the lab used by The New York Times didn’t “have the proper technology to extract DNA from tuna”.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit must have come to similar conclusions, because a later filing, in June, replaced their original complaints about the fish not being tuna to questions about whether the tuna was “100% sustainably caught skipjack and yellowfin tuna.” That’s a story for another day…
Throughout the saga, Subway provided clear, consistent and credible information to consumers. Their CEO went on television to assure consumers that their tuna is authentic. They also set up a website devoted solely to tuna facts. The website includes facts about tuna sourcing, tuna testing and regulations that apply to tuna labelling. The website does not skirt around the lawsuit, but tackles it head-on, asking “What is the status of the lawsuit that started all of this misinformation?” and providing answers to that question.
The whole incident has been used by Subway as an opportunity to educate consumers about their sourcing policies and build brand trust and transparency. Nicely done, Subway.
In short: 🍏 Consumers alleged food fraud in Subway tuna sandwiches 🍏 The plaintiffs claimed the ‘tuna’ wasn’t from tuna fish 🍏 Authenticity tests were inconclusive: some labs found tuna DNA and some did not 🍏 The plaintiffs softened their allegations, switching from ‘no tuna’ to ‘not the right tuna’ 🍏 Subway used the opportunity to educate consumers about tuna supply chains and build brand trust and transparency 🍏
Sources and further information:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/19/style/subway-tuna-sandwich-lawsuit.html
Food Defence
Crazy man and risk mitigation
Get a hypodermic needle, go to local supermarkets, inject food with something. Then go outside and shout abuse at passers-by until the police arrive.
That’s what a man in London (UK) did recently. Local authorities advised consumers to dispose of anything they had purchased from the affected stores.
How does a food business protect itself against such actions? It can’t. However it can mitigate the risks by responding to such an incident with swiftness, transparency and cooperation with local authorities.
In short: 🍏 Man acted crazy 🍏 He may have injected substances into food 🍏 Consumers had to discard food over contamination fears 🍏 Protecting food businesses from incidents like this is next to impossible 🍏 Fast, honest responses can mitigate the damage 🍏
Food Fraud Incidents and Horizon Scanning
Food fraud incidents added to Food Fraud Risk Information Database in the past week
A survey of spices (n = 138) found 26% had 'anomalies' which included mislabelling, unauthorised constituents (such as stamens in saffron or exogenous dyes) and problems with traceability. Saffron was the worst affected spice - France
https://www.reussir.fr/lesmarches/epices-la-qualite-sameliore-mais-des-anomalies-persistent
Coffee, rice and pepper beans were being exported from Brazil with forged phytosanitary certificates. Receivers noticed discrepancies with some of the certificates and alerted Brazilian authorities, who found and seized five companies that had falsified certificates - Brazil
Researchers investigating ELISA and PCR-based testing methods for meat species authentication found that 32% of beef and 8% of chicken products purchased from supermarkets (total n = 62) contained pork - Kosovo https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/cjfs.htm?type=article&id=164_2020-CJFS
173,000 L of fruit juice, fruit drink and coconut water was seized by authorities on suspicion of being adulterated with added sugars and water - Brazil https://www.gov.br/agricultura/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/mapa-apreende-173-mil-litros-de-bebidas-com-indicios-de-fraude
Counterfeit packages of a premium Australian-grown rice brand(s) have been found in large quantities in Europe and the Middle East. The rice is thought to have been grown in Ukraine or Egypt and packed by criminal gangs to mimic the Sunrise or Sunwhite brands, which are not available in Europe. https://www.securingindustry.com/food-and-beverage/criminal-gang-counterfeits-aussie-rice-brand-sunrice/s104/a13661/
Other updates to the Food Fraud Risk Information Database in the past week
Honey
A European farmers association has warned that the Greek honey industry has been decimated by wildfires in important honey-producing regions of Greece. They estimate that more than 10,000 beehives were lost in the fires. Greek premium Pinetree honey is expected to suffer serious supply shortfalls for multiple years. Purchasers of Greek honey or Pinetree honey should expect to pay significantly higher prices in the coming years and should verify authenticity carefully. 08/09/2021
Seafood: Shark and Ray Products
A new report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) claims that there is a "complex and opaque global trade in shark and ray meat" that contributes to oversfishing and species delpetion. They recommend better management to prevent illegal trading of shark and ray meat and warn that few available shark and ray meat products derive from sustainable and traceable sources. They claim that the mislabelling of illegally harvested shark and ray meat and the marketing of such products under misleading names is widespread. 13/07/2021 https://updates.panda.org/global-trade-in-shark-and-ray-meat-feeds-the-ocean-crisis
Certification Fraud
Chinese authorities have acknowledged that it is possible for food businesses to purchase fake, forged and counterfeit food certifications online and have launched a three month 'crackdown'. Affected certificates appear to include both laboratory test reports and also management systems certifications because fraudulent documents shared by concerned citizens carried the marks of the China Inspection Body and Laboratory Mandatory Approval (CMA) and China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS). 04/08/2021 https://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Article/2021/08/04/China-food-safety-sweep-Government-launches-three-month-crackdown-on-online-counterfeits-fake-certifications
Spices
An international trade association has warned of severe price rises for spices and aromatic plants from Asia and the Pacific. Prices have been affected by the ethylene oxide crisis for Indian materials, plus scarcity and a significant increase in the cost of sea freight. Black pepper prices are up by 80%. 10/06/2021 10/06/2021 https://www.reussir.fr/lesmarches/tres-forte-hausse-des-prix-des-epices-en-provenance-de-la-zone-asie-pacifique
Coffee, Rice and Pepper Beans (fraudulent certifcates)
Coffee, rice and pepper beans were being exported from Brazil with forged phytosanitary certificates. Receivers noticed discrepancies with some of the certificates and alerted Brazilian authorities, who found and seized five companies that had falsified certificates - Brazil 23/08/2021 https://jornaldebrasilia.com.br/noticias/brasil/ministerio-da-agricultura-e-pf-deflagram-operacao-contra-fraude-na-exportacao/