Trust or Inspection? Fraud or Trust?

Is it bad if the garlic powder you buy in the store is not entirely pure? If analysis shows that it also contains potato starch and ground garlic husk? Is that fraud? 

That partly depends on the agreements you make with each other, or on the expectation you create regarding the quality of the product as a provider. Does the customer know it is an inferior quality product? They often do not. Because the naked eye cannot tell the difference.

Fraud, or ‘deliberate deception to obtain unlawful benefits’ deeply affects our society. Our economy runs on trust. One product that is mistrusted can destroy an entire sector. It can take months before the trust is regained. Trust can take years to build, but only a second to shatter. Look at the horsemeat affair: you bought beef, but it was horsemeat. Or you pay for extra virgin olive oil, but receive a much lesser quality. Checking for fraud is being increasingly included in certification requirements of quality schemes. 

We have all sorts of techniques to demonstrate tampering with the composition. Such as NIR (Near Infrared Spectroscopy); a beautiful, fast and cheap technique with many possibilities. 

A tip for dealing with possible fraud checks: is the country of origin unreliable? Is there no chain security? Is the financial value of a raw material high? In those cases, the risk of fraud increased. This requires additional checks. 

Pieter Vos
Director Nutrilab

www.nutrilab.nl/en