Food Quality Magazine
ISSUE 02 | AUTUMN 2014
The Elliott Review: a Novel Food Fraud
Solution or a Reactionary Excercise?
Mitchell Weinberg, Esq.
Elliott’s mission, or did our unreasonably high hopes simply cloud our
expectations?
When we consider what is written in
the “Elliott Review into the Integrity
and Assurance of Food Supply
Networks (the “Elliott Review”), once we get past the impressive title
and through the 145 page comprehensive treatise of food fraud history
and theory, what are we left with?
Do we have a solution to eliminate
food fraud globally, or are we left
with a thoughtful yet unproven parochial hypothesis that was designed
to address specific concerns of some
political pundits who want to make
it appear that they are doing something to address the problem of
food fraud in the United Kingdom?
Will implementation of the “systems”
approach advocated by Professor
Elliott stop the dairy farmer or coop
in Bangladesh, or the beekeeper in
China, or the olive oil producer in
Italy, from diluting their products
and substituting inferior and potentially toxic substances for ones that
are authentic? Was this Professor
PILLAR
If, as Professor Elliott states, his
report was prepared to find ways
to “deter, identify and prosecute
food adulteration” in the United
Kingdom, then it is a success. Kudos
to Professor Elliott for being so responsive to the request made of
him. If however the purpose of the
report is to stop food fraud globally,
then it is a failure.
In his defense, Professor Elliott
was constrained by the parameters set down by his government.
Unfortunately, while Professor Elliott
put forth an approach that will satisfy his mandate, it will not do much
to combat the global problem of
food fraud, nor make it any safer for
UK food consumers who the report is
designed to protect.
No one will dispute the fact that
to appreciate the problem of food
fraud, one must look at the entire
food supply chain and understand
its complexity. Let’s breakdown
Professor Elliott’s eight pillars of food integrity and ask ourselves which
ones will prevent food fraud:
Several of these eight pillars help
to identify whether there may be a
problem with food fraud or provide
socially acceptable methods to address the issue of food fraud when
ELIMINATES FOOD FRAUD (YES OR NO)
CONSUMERS FIRST
ZERO TOLERANCE
NO
INTELLIGENCE GATHERING
YES
LABORATORY SERVICES
NO
AUDITS
NO
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
NO
LEADERSHIP
NO
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
26
NO
NO
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