Food Fraud? How Am I Not Surprised!

FDA pressured to combat rising ‘food fraud’

Searching today’s news posts for fraud related articles to be incorporated into two sessions I will be presenting in Miami in May, I came across this article in The Washington Post.

Although I am well aware of manufacturers and producers misrepresenting their ingredients or nutritional claims , at times puffing versus out right lies, I hadn’t realized until tonight that a new type of “fraud” had been labeled for this growing practice.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the “bait and switch” tactics of companies wanting to offer something of higher quality for a higher price without having to include the higher quality ingredients.  In the end it simply comes down to greed.  Save money, misrepresent the product, and hope the consuming public is no wiser.  No harm, right?

My son has a life-threatening allergy to nuts, peanuts mainly, but any nuts or nut products.  We have to read the labels and ingredients carefully for everything we use and consume.  I am always surprised where we find nut products, or that the items were made in a plant that also processes nuts.  We have even seen times where nuts were not listed in a product we buy and use frequently, and for some reason, when we buy the same item at a later time, the nut warming in present.  We have been told that same name items could be manufactured in different plants on behalf of the maker, and that some plants could be nut free while others may not.

My fear after reading this article is whether these manufacturers are careful when they are substituting ingredients, and updating their labeling to reflect their substitutions.  I suspect not, as their scheme would be easily revealed.

Buyer beware I guess.  Another sad sign of our society.  We’ll just have to continue reading everything carefully and “trust” that the maker didn’t pull one of these schemes.

Here’s the URL to the full article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/29/AR2010032903824.html