Food-fraud a multi-billion dollar business. Horsemeat scandal continues.

 

Veterinarians should refrain from meddling in food processing operations.

For Barbados Free Press by Robert D. Lucas, PH.D

Food traceability has been topical in the print-media recently in connection with the adulteration (food fraud) and mis-labeling of beef and other processed food products with horse meat in countries of the European Union( EU).

According to Barbados Senior Veterinary officer, Dr. Mark Trotman, (as reported in the Barbados Advocate of the 21 and 28 of  February 2013) ‘his department has carried out “extensive-traced back investigations” and to date none of the identified products had been imported into Barbados.’ Products adulterated with horsemeat in  the European Union were listed in both articles. Presumably, Trotman was referring to these products.

I will now explain for the benefit of Trotman some facets of food safety, traceability and meat speciation analysis.

“No amount of tracking without use of analytical techniques of meat speciation would have prevented the fraud…”

“I have always stated that unless veterinarians are trained in public health, they should refrain from meddling in food processing operations.”

In the past (letters to the Advocate: Food fraud a Global Occurrence, November 18, 2000) I outlined the wide-spread nature of food fraud and stated that it was a multi-billion-dollar business. The adulteration of processed foods with horsemeat falls under the heading of food fraud. No amount of tracking without use of analytical techniques of meat speciation would have prevented the fraud as I will now explain.