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Africa and Middle East most vulnerable markets to food fraud

Consumers in Africa and the Middle East face a higher risk of consuming adulterated foods – especially with tariffs causing chaos in the global food supply chain, experts warn.

While European and North American nations are among those with stronger food safety regulations, lowering their vulnerability to food frauds, academics have warned there is a heightened risk of fraud due to the ongoing tariff war.

This is “the rogue traders’ paradise”, noted Chris Elliott, professor of food security at Thammasat University, in Bangkok.

The impact of climate change on crop harvests is also wreaking havoc – and this is only likely to get worse – leading to pressure on some to cut corners, through use of bulking agents, for example.

“The effect of climate change on the quality of food ingredients and products could also have the potential to influence food authenticity,” wrote academics in a paper for Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition in 2024.

Which countries are most at risk from food fraud?

The Food Fraud Vulnerability Index 2025, compiled by researchers at Wellness Pulse, a health news media outlet, assessed a range of factors influencing food fraud vulnerability across three groups.

These included opportunity-related factors (like food import score and food price volatility), motivation-related factors (such as regulatory compliance and food fraud incidence rate), and control measure-related factors (for example, the availability of latest technologies and food safety capacity).

From these, each of the 105 countries assessed was given an index score out of 100. The higher the score, the more vulnerable the country to adulterated food and fraud.

Finland (11.26) topped the chart as the least vulnerable country to food fraud, with access to the latest technology and going beyond others to prevent problems. A 2024 survey, for example, found that about 60% of business owners had performed a food fraud vulnerability assessment.

Australia, with its relatively short supply chains – 90% of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, milk, and eggs sold in its supermarkets comes from domestic farms – ranked second (11.53).

And with its “increasingly strict food safety policies”, South Korea was third (11.77). In 2021, the country’s regulations around imported agricultural products were tightened and now include on-site inspections of foreign food facilities, for instance.

At the other end of the table were Yemen (82.73), Ivory Coast (72.83), and Sierra Leone (72.55). Seven out of ten countries most vulnerable to food fraud were in Africa, with the other three — war-torn Yemen and Syria, as well as Jordan — located in the Middle East.

The analysis highlighted that “many of these countries suffer from poor economic health and low food safety and regulatory compliance, increasing their vulnerability. Moreover, most of these countries have limited availability of the latest technology that could help identify fraudulent food”.

Tough time on tariffs heightens fraud risks

Of course, vulnerability for food fraud is not static – economic fluctuations, regulatory changes, geopolitical shifts, and technological advancements can all have an impact, so the authors of the index warns that it represents a “snapshot” and “may not fully capture future trends”.

Tariffs and their impact on trade are a current cause for concern among fraud experts. Increased tariffs on agricultural commodities “create fertile ground for food fraud” within complex global supply chains, testing company Eurofins US has warned.

With many food companies working on 4 to 8% profits, tariffs of 10% could have “catastrophic” impacts on food prices, added Elliott.

He said the “biggest threat” in terms of fraud and food safety issues “will be the adulteration of food ingredients and commodities with various types of bulking agents to cut the cost of production and increase profit margins”.