°Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï

Food crime and fraud can take place in food supply chains, including drinks and animal feed. Types of food crime include:

• theft - stealing food, drink or animal feed for profit
• illegal processing - slaughtering or preparing meat in places or ways that are not approved
• waste diversion - taking food, drink or feed that should have been thrown away and putting it back into the food supply chain
• adulteration - adding something that is not listed on the label, to cut costs or make the product seem better quality
• substitution - swapping food or ingredients for cheaper or lower quality options
• misrepresentation - wrongly labelling or selling a product to mislead people about its quality, freshness, safety or where it came from
• document fraud - making, using or holding fake papers to sell or market a product that is not what it claims to be

You can report food crime online or over the phone.

If you’re a business, make sure you avoid food crime.

If you think a food crime has been committed, report it to The National Food Crime Unit.

Make a report online

Make a report by phone

Report a food hygiene problem

To report a food hygiene problem contact your local council.

To prevent food crime and fraud in your business you should:

• know the signs of food crime
• train your staff
• check the businesses in your supply chain
• put crime and fraud prevention procedures in place
• stay up-to-date with risks that affect your business

Signs of food crime

Everyone in your business should know the possible signs of food crime, such as:

• customer complaints about the quality or taste
• products or ingredients not matching their description
• suppliers unable to provide traceability records
• your own testing showing poor quality or false information
• paperwork problems, like invoices not matching product labels
• suppliers saying things that do not match your knowledge of the market
• prices that seem too good to be true
• staff acting defensively or keeping sole control of things
• strange cash transactions

These signs do not confirm food crime, but they can be clues that something is wrong.

Training staff

Make it clear to your staff that fraud will not be accepted in the workplace.

Share the signs of food crime with staff. Make sure staff feel safe raising concerns. Share a clear whistleblowing process with them.

Let staff know they can also report concerns to the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU).

Checking the businesses in your supply chain

Before working with a new supplier or customer check they’re legitimate by:

• looking them up on Companies House
• verifying their bank details
• asking for proof that their products can be traced back to source

Developing crime and fraud prevention processes

You should review your business processes and find ways to prevent food fraud and crime.

To prevent fraud you can:

• complete a designed by the NFCU
• complete a Vulnerability Assessment and Critical Control Points (VACCP) assessment - these are offered by several food safety training businesses
• have an online meeting with the NFCU where they will assess your business risk level - email the NFCU’s prevention team to arrange this
• go to an in-person training event where they simulate a food fraud incident - email the NFCU’s prevention team to join

To prevent an attack on your food chain, you should follow ‘PAS 96:2017’ guidance to develop and implement a Threat Assessment Critical Control Points (TACCP) assessment.

Get updates about the food industry

To stay informed about food crime and risks affecting the industry, you can:

• join the for advice, events and updates around food fraud and authenticity issues
• follow trade associations and industry forums