Methods of Food Adulteration and Globally Targeted Products

Food adulteration is common in some countries due to the lack of strict oversight by government agencies. As technology advances, the methods of adulteration vary. Adulteration is carried out through: Dilution by mixing: adding lower-value substances to the product itself to dilute its concentration and reduce production costs. Altering the nutrition label: placing false information on the product packaging. Processing food in unhealthy ways, such as by adding unknown, unauthorized, and undisclosed toxic substances to a food product. Using substitutes for ingredients in production: Replacing a high-value ingredient or component in the product with a lower-value one. Concealing inferior ingredients used in production: Deliberately failing to disclose low-quality ingredients used in the production process. Trademark infringement: Using a trademark name or design to sell a specific product as if it were from the same source. Parallel-market packaging and production: Producing food items that are not subject to state regulatory agencies, where misrepresentation and fraud occur. Therefore, citizens and residents should be vigilant before purchasing any food item by reading the full list of ingredients—this is one of your rights. Fraud occurs in the ingredients of major food categories; to illustrate, there are 12 ingredients globally prone to fraud, as follows: 1. Fruit juices: Especially apple, pomegranate, and orange juices, where artificial colors are added and the water content is increased, along with added sugar in addition to the fruit’s natural sugar. 2- Olive oil: According to a Forbes magazine report, 80% of Italian olive oil is adulterated, particularly during periods of low production, by adding other oils such as sunflower and canola oil. Extra virgin olive oil is available in the Kuwaiti market, but pomace oil is added to it; which is made from olives but is processed through heating, thereby affecting the health benefits of the olive oil—unlike extra virgin olive oil, which is the residue from the first pressing. 3- Fish Fraud: Since fish is expensive, fraud involves substituting genuine fish with imitation fish, such as packaging cheap fish as expensive fish, or claiming that the fish is wild-caught when it is actually produced on fish farms. 4- Honey: Adulteration involves adding water and artificial sweeteners, such as corn syrup, as well as falsifying the country of origin and source, especially in cases of local repackaging. 5- Spices: It is easy to adulterate spices; for example, turmeric is adulterated by adding lead chromate, which has the same color but is a substance hazardous to health. I advise every homemaker to buy whole spices rather than ground ones and grind them at home as needed. 6- Coffee: It is easy to adulterate coffee by adding cheap ingredients such as corn, soy, and others, as well as by altering the name of the country of origin. I recommend buying whole coffee beans instead of ground coffee. 7- Organic Foods: The easiest way to adulterate them is to package regular, non-organic ingredients as organic and double or more than double their prices. Therefore, you must ensure the presence of an organic certification issued by a reliable source and request this certification from the supplier. 8- Milk: Adulteration of milk is very easy and varies depending on the substances added; for example, water is added to increase volume and sales, or starch and gelatin are added to increase the milk’s viscosity and consistency; preservatives are added to mask certain defects in the milk, such as formaldehyde, the use of which is prohibited by the World Health Organization (WHO); as well as adulteration by adding colorants to milk to sell it as cow’s milk, and by adding alkaline substances such as carbonates to neutralize some of the acidity caused by microbial contamination. Notable global incidents of food adulteration: 1. 2018: Canadian honey was found to be adulterated; it turned out to be imported from China, with the addition of antibiotics banned in Canada. 2. 2018: Spanish olive oil was adulterated; adulterated olive oil of poor quality and containing artificial colors was discovered and sold as first-grade olive oil. 3. 2016: Italian Parmesan cheese was adulterated in the United States; the adulterated cheese was found to contain only 2% Parmesan, with the remainder consisting of wood shavings. 4. 2013: Beef was substituted with horse meat in Ireland and some European countries, leading to the recall of millions of packages and significant losses. 5. 2008: Melamine-tainted infant formula from China is considered one of the most serious cases of food fraud, as it was used to increase the protein content. Melamine powder was added to the infant formula, resulting in thousands of children requiring medical treatment and the deaths of some of them.