Food crime - an emerging issue

Get an overview of the threat posed by food crime and the measures being adopted to tackle it

The food industry is increasingly aware of the threat posed by food crime and the potential effects of serious crime such as extortion on their products, brands and businesses. The pressures this places on food industry managers are compounded by the greater likelihood of complaints resulting in legal action in an increasingly litigious society. Customer contact staff need to be able to deal with complaints in a way that mitigates damage to their company while senior managers need to know how to deal effectively with the wider issues of collaborating with police, solicitors and specialist advisers in managing crises.

This seminar was held at CCFRA in May 2002 to bring together a panel of experts to review food crime from a range of perspectives. It was designed to help food industry personnel plan for and manage crises arising from food crime and spanned legal, product recall and laboratory support systems. These proceedings contain a short summary and/or copies of the visual aids used in each presentation. Specifically, the topics addressed include:

• The law - what existing and forthcoming legislation relates to food crime issues?
• Malicious product tampering
• Complaints register for food service industries
• Handling product recalls
• Food crime and the microscopist
• Paraquat, paracetamol or a broken seal? - analysis for contamination
• Contingency planning