Suppliers unscrupulous

There was varied success with these inocula, as a number of unscrupulous operators supplied ineffective inoculants. Some states in the United States established laws that required inoculant suppliers to have their inoculants certified annually by a state agency. This generally was successful in discouraging distribution of ineffective inocula. 

Over the past 30 years, extensive research has been carried out to find ways to detect the adulteration of fruit juices. The approaches have developed from simple procedures, such as measuring the potassium and nitrogen contents of juices, to the use of highly sophisticated and expensive equipment to detect the most recent approaches that unscrupulous suppliers may be using to extend their products. Such adulteration often involves the substitution of some of the fruit juice solids by sugars derived from beet, cane, com or inulin, or the addition of cheaper juices or second extracts of the fruit. 

The methods used to detect adulteration of juices have been reviewed by a number of authors and two examples are given here (Fry el al., 1995 Hammond, 1996). With the changing methods of unscrupulous suppliers it is now common to use a battery of tests to ensure that a product is authentic. Although this is costly, it is the only way to ensure the authenticity of a product and protect company reputations. The array of tests will often include a number of the procedures described above, such as sugar and acid profiles, along with other methods such as stable isotopic and fingerprinting procedures. 

Flowever, if only a simple approach to establish the juice content of a drink is used, such as assessing the levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, it is easy for an unscrupulous supplier to circumvent this method of assessment by the addition of potassium and ammonium phosphate salts, which enhances the nominal juice content of the product. 

This again illustrates the fact that defining percentage values for chemical components of an oil may act as a guideline for adulteration by unscrupulous suppliers. 

A further example is provided by organisations which have a policy of minimum price contracting. This can result in the short-listing of unsuitable suppliers, and naive or unscrupulous purchasers and suppliers may contract together for a system which is destined to be disastrous. 

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