JUNIOR SKEPTIC No. 54 (3232)
A giantic meat scandal rocked Europe in 2013. Numerous
countries discovered that widely sold “beef” products such as
frozen hamburgers were mixed with horse meat. This was
very upsetting for people who consider horses companion
animals. This infamous scandal alerted many governments
to the true scale of the ongoing problem of food fraud.
One of the easiest cheats is just to slap on labels that make
food appear more valuable. One Canadian company was
fined several million dollars for putting “Grown in Canada”
stickers on vegetables from Mexico. In 2019, an American
schemer was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling 120
million dollars of corn and soybeans that were dishonestly
labeled “organic.”The Moby Dick of Food Fraud Problems
Seafood is faked more often than
any other sort of food—so often
that you’ve almost certainly
been cheated yourself.
Some seafood is decep-
tively altered. For ex-
ample, 2002 tests by
Britain’s Food Standards Agency
found that scallops were commonly injected
with water (up to 54 percent!).
Mislabeled seafood is an even bigger problem.
Sellers often substitute cheap fish for expensive fish.
The nonprofit organization Oceana buys fish from
stores and restaurants, then uses DNA tests to find
out if it is really the species claimed on the label or
menu. Their 2012 tests of fish sold in New York City revealed
that 39 percent of samples were mislabeled. Restaurants were
less reliable than grocery stores; customers usually can’t tell
which fish is used in sushi or cooked dishes. Every single
tested sushi restaurant served mislabeled fish!Oceana also
tested fish samples from cities across Canada in 2017 and- About one in five grocery store fish samples were
mislabeled, as were halfof the fish samples from Canadian
restaurants! “Wild Pacific salmon” often turned out to be
farmed Atlantic salmon. “White tuna” was often escolar (a
fish that can make people sick). Every single sample of Red
Snapper tested in Canada was really some other cheaper fish.
These frauds cheat customers andharm the oceans. In
some cases, customers are even served endangered species
without realizing it! Fraudsters often hide where seafood
comes from. Imported seafood is often illegally poached or
fished unsustainably, then disguised to look like it comes
from a responsible fishery. Governments, scientists, and
ocean organizations are working to fix that problem. People
can’t make informed choices if they don’t know what they’re
eating or where it comes from.
Deadly Deceptions
Modern food fraud isn’t as dangerous as it was in Accum’s
day, but it can harm people in some cases. Food experts
worry that people with life-threatening allergies could eat
dangerous hidden ingredients (such as peanuts).
In 2007, two people in Chicago were poisoned by toxic
pufer fish that was sold as harmless “monkfish.” They were
lucky to survive. The FDA seized hundreds of boxes of the
poisonous fish. In 1986, dozens of wine drinkers were hospi-
talized and 20 died after drinking fraudulent wine. Food
criminals used a poisonous kind of alcohol to make shoddy
wine more intoxicating.
China was shocked in 2008 when fraudulent milk was
poisoned with the chemical melamine. This was the worst
food fraud case in modern history. Over 50,000
children were sent to the
hospital! Tragically, several
children died.The Bottom Line
Food fraud afects every-
one, rich and poor. It un-
fairly harms honest businesses such
as American beekeepers. Cheating
steals our money and sometimes
harms our health. It also takes away
our freedom to make choices. People
who care about animal welfare, or-
ganic farming, the environment, or a
balanced diet depend on honest food
labeling. The same is true for people with allergies or dietary
restrictions, such as vegans, vegetarians, celiacs, and those
who eat kosher or halal food.
What can we do? Customers can detect many food tricks
by reading labels and thinking critically. If prices seem too
good to be true, they probably are! We can seek out rep-
utable brands. (Oceana’s tests found that national grocery
chains had much more reliable fish labeling than smaller
grocers.) We can grow our own herbs and cook with hard-
to-fake ingredients such as fresh vegetables and whole fish.
Outright criminal fraud is another story. We need scientists
and law enforcement to catch serious food criminals. In
that ongoing battle, we can cheer on the scientific food
detectives who are on the case!Further Reading
To learn more about modern food fraud, see
Larry Olmsted’s Real Food, Fake Food(2016). For anexcellent look at the history of food fraud, see
Bee Wilson’s Swindled—from Poison Sweets to
Counterfeit Coffee—the Dark History of the
Food Cheats(2008). Both were important sources
for this story.73DNA tests in the U.S. and
Canada have found that
between 44% and 100%
of “red Snapper” sam-
ples were really other
kinds of fish.