News

USP launches fraud database

8 Aug 2016

The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has launched the next generation of its Food Fraud Database (FFD 2.0) to help food manufacturers and retailers make informed decisions about ingredients in their portfolio.

The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has launched the next generation of its Food Fraud Database (FFD 2.0) to help food manufacturers and retailers make informed decisions about ingredients in their portfolio that may have a greater potential of being adulterated. The goal is to provide brand protection, increase consumer trust and support new food safety regulations recently finalized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Food fraud, also referred to as economically-motivated adulteration (EMA), is a global economic and public health problem, USP says, costing industry an estimated 10 to 15 billion dollars annually and affecting as much as 10% of the global food supply.

“Consumers today are more educated than ever, and manufacturers risk doing irreparable damage to their brands as a result of food fraud,” said Todd Abraham of Mondelēz International and a member of USP’s Board of Trustees. “The Food Fraud Database 2.0 provides food manufacturers with the ability to look at past incidents of fraud and take proactive steps to protect their supply chains – thus protecting their reputation and ensuring consumer confidence in their products.”

Another advantage of USP’s FFD 2.0 is in supporting compliance with new regulatory requirements from the FDA related to food safety. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requires food manufacturers and retailers to identify and analyze potential hazards including those resulting from EMA as part of their food safety plans. The FFD 2.0 provides hazards reports on specific adulterants, making it easier for manufacturers and retailers to quickly identify ingredients with a known history of adulteration with potentially hazardous substances. The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), an industry-driven initiative providing guidance on food safety management systems, has similar requirements to conduct food fraud vulnerability assessments and develop control plans.

“Substances used to adulterate food can include industrial dyes, plasticizers, allergens, or other substances not intended to be consumed by people,” said Jeffrey Moore, science director for the food program at USP. “Smart mitigation of risks starts with reliable data, and the Food Fraud Database 2.0 is a first good step towards assessing the hazards potentially present in specific food supply chains.”

This update of the database – considered the largest collection of food fraud records in the world –includes not only thousands of ingredients and related adulterants, but also incident reports, surveillance records and analytical methods gathered from scientific literature, media publications, regulatory records, judicial records and trade associations around the world.