Food crime report highlights emerging risks and cost of fraud

FSA proposals to reduce food fraud include encouraging food-fraud whistleblowing and better information-sharing, while AIMS urges deployment of modern tech such as AI

Food crime is changing with new opportunities for criminal activity, according to the 2024 Food Crime Strategic Assessment, published by the Food Standard Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland.

Ron McNaughton, Head of the Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit said: “In the four years since our last strategic assessment, the UK food supply has faced significant disruption and our latest report outlines key food crime threats and highlights emerging risks within food systems due to external factors.”

The report found that the majority of food in the UK is “safe and authentic”, but factors such as recent geopolitical events have caused disruptions that have contributed to the changing threat of food crime. 

McNaughton said the situation “demands ongoing collaboration across regulatory bodies, law enforcement and industry, with shared intelligence, data and experience remaining vital to tackling food crime effectively".

Helen Sisson, Director and Co-Chair of the Food Industry Intelligence Network said: “We are pleased to be taking action with the FSA and our partners in the food industry to strengthen the way we can prevent food crime in our supply chains. Cooperation and communication between every part of the food system is vital to protect the public and the global reputation of UK food.”

“The more we know about food crime, the better we can tackle it with the industry and our local authority partners to protect legitimate businesses and consumers.”

Andrew Quinn, Head of the FSA’s National Food Crime Unit added: “Even small levels of food fraud are unacceptable. The more we know about food crime, the better we can tackle it with the industry and our local authority partners to protect legitimate businesses and consumers.”

Lisa Jack, a Professor of Accounting at the University of Portsmouth, worked with the FSA to help calculate the cost of food crime to the UK, which has been estimated at between £410million and £1.96billion per year.

Professor Jack said: “This is the first time a team has been able to calculate a cost of food crime on the economy from data on individual crimes, rather than using proxies.” 

FSA proposals to reduce food fraud include the launch of a new freephone number for the food-fraud hotline to make it easier for people to share their concerns; working with industry on ways to encourage food-fraud whistleblowing and strengthening information-sharing arrangements between the third-party auditors used by food businesses.

But is this enough? Possibly not: the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) has called for “big changes” on food safety, as the system in place has allowed for “high-profile failures”.

AIMS said modern technology, such as blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and sensors could be more effective.

Dr Jason Aldiss, Head of External Affairs at AIMS said: "These technologies will stop food fraud, reduce costs for businesses, and give consumers peace of mind that their food is safe and genuine. By making these changes, we’ll ensure that bad practices are caught early, keeping the entire industry on track and giving consumers the confidence that the food they buy is safe.”