Food Fraud: Are you really eating what you think you are?

[jeffrey]

If you are what you eat, you could be having an identity crisis. Foods we eat every day could include ingredients that aren't supposed to be the there. It's called "food fraud" and its a growing problem.

Fish, honey, milk, orange juice, and olive oil - what do they all have in common? They top the list when it comes to food fraud.

Cheap imitations are filling up grocery store shelves.

"One of the ways that happens is by substituting one ingredient for another. It's hard for consumers," said Dr. Mark Stoeckle, a Senior Research Associate in the Program for the Human Environment at The Rockefeller University...

http://www.khou.com/news/health/Food-fraud-a-growing-problem-in-grocery-stores-236733491.html

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

"Purchase whole spices, but don't buy into the newest food trend."

Is this a case of bad editing, or is there some connection with trends in spices?

These food adulterations really concern me.

[disneysteve]

This is really disturbing. I'm very good about reading labels but what good is that if the labels aren't true?

[rob62521]

This is scary. I read labels and now I'm getting even more skeptical.

[GrimJack]

Honey is a serious issue since it can go through a bunch of intermediaries before it is imported. Vietnam is one of the top 10 exporters of honey but it is not even on the list of top 14 honey producers. Germany is listed as the 14th largest exporter of honey at less than 20,000 tonnes but is the largest importer of honey, importing 23.6% of the world's production. I guess where I am going is that China exports a lot of its honey to Vietnam which then exports it. China's honey has a lot of 'impurities'.

Similar things happen with olive oil - arrgghhh!

[rob62521]

Very frightening indeed. Some labels don't even tell where it was manufactured or grown. And what's up with all this canned fruit coming from China?

[Dylansmom]

Makes me think twice about where I buy my foods and that I need to read labels more carefully I guess.

[HappySaver]

Sadly I can vouch for this first hand.

I have a soy allergy, and have had reactions to olive oil. Recently I came across this piece in the NYTimes discussing the problem with olive oil adulteration. Soybean oil is one of the cheaper oils they use to "cut" the olive oil.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/01/24/opinion/food-chains-extra-virgin-suicide.html

This is not only disturbing, it's life-threatening to those of us with food allergies.

Since this happened I have only been using olive oil that comes from and is packed in Spain. Not a guarantee, but they have much stricter standards than they do in Italy, where the business is largely controlled by the mafia.