Food falsification

From the consumer s point of view as well, controls on food products are needed, from a food safety and traceability perspective. The problem of adulteration and falsification of food has ancient roots which date back to the Roman Age and continue, through the Middle and Modem Ages, till nowadays the deployment of new analytical tools for fraud detection has caused a parallel progress in the adulteration procedures, which has gradually evolved from coarse and rudimentary systems to highly sophisticated and scarcely detectable strategies. 

Mitchell, J. (1848) Treatise on the Falsification of Food. J.B. Bailliere, London. 

Each company should have a policy that strictly prohibits the deliberate falsification, mutilation, obliteration, or destruction of raw data and associated GMP documentation. Companies must insist on strict adherence to such policies and should take aggressive disciplinary action when lapses are detected. Failure to do so may subject the company and its corporate officers to severe regulatory sanctions, including criminal prosecution under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or the general criminal laws of the United States (Title 18, U.S. Code). Even inadvertent (non-deliberate) acts that result in loss of data or records should be prevented, and, if they occur, they should be promptly and thoroughly investigated. 

Vitzthum O.G. and Werkhoff P. (1975) Cycloalkapyrazines in coffee aroma. J. Agric. Food Chem. 23, 510-16. Vitzthum O.G. and Werkhoff P. (1976a) The volatile constituents of roasted coffee. Ann. Falsif. Expert Chim. 69, 725-35. 

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