Food Protection Trends - January/February 2014 - (Page 8)

PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLE Sarah Easter Strayer,1* Karen Everstine2 and Shaun Kennedy3 1 Center for Animal Health and Food Safety, University of Minnesota, 1354 Eckles Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108, USA and AMEDD Student Detachment, 187th Medical Brigade, U.S. Army Medical Dept. Center and School, 2745 Harney Path, Suite 187, Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234, USA National Center for Food Protection and Defense, University of Minnesota, 120 LES Bldg., 1954 Buford Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108, USA 2 Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, 38 AS/VM Building, 1988 Fitch Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108, USA 3 Economically Motivated Adulteration of Honey: Quality Control Vulnerabilities in the International Honey Market E ABSTRACT conomically-motivated adulteration (EMA) is the adulteration of food for financial advantage. The high value of honey puts it at risk for EMA because of strong economic incentives. The honey market is a truly global market, with over 60% of honey used in the U.S. coming from imports. There is currently no U.S. federal standard of identity for honey, which hampers regulatory efforts to ensure the safety and quality of honey. Several types of EMA have been identified in the honey industry, including dilution with less expensive syrups, intensive supplemental feeding of honey bees, unapproved use of antibiotics, and masking the true country of origin. Various factors have led to quality control vulnerabilities in the international honey market, including decreased domestic production, the lack of a federal standard of identity, insufficient analytical methods, trade policies, and country-specific testing for antibiotic residues. Despite regulatory efforts, regulatory agencies and trade organizations have struggled to ensure safe, high quality, appropriately labeled honey in the international market. This lack of quality control has potentially far-reaching consequences for public health, prices on the worldwide honey market, and the livelihood of beekeepers. INTRODUCTION conomically motivated adulteration (EMA), according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) working definition, is the "fraudulent, intentional substitution or addition of a substance for the purpose of increasing the apparent value of the product or reducing the cost of its production, i.e., for economic gain" (36). EMA can occur in all food products and is often referred to as food fraud. In a broad sense, we consider EMA in food to include knowingly selling any food product that is not up to standards (15). EMA is not a new problem. It was addressed by ancient Egyptian meat laws, Greek and Roman wine laws, and U.S. food laws as far back as 1784 (9). Higher value food items are often targets of EMA because of the strong economic E *Author for correspondence: Phone: +1 612.626.3178; Fax: +1 612.624.4906; E-mail: easte068@umn.edu 8 Food Protection Trends January/February http://www.foodprotection.org/files/food-protection-trends/Jan-Feb-14-everstine.pdf

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - January/February 2014

Food Protection Trends - January/February 2014
Contents
Economically Motivated Adulteration of Honey: Quality Control Vulnerabilities in the International Honey Market
Efficacy of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds on Different Conveyor Chips Contaminated with Poultry Rinsate
What Implications Does a Baseline of Self-efficacy of Food Safety in Adolescent Populations Have for Future Food Safety Education Interventions?
Food Safety Risks in Restaurants and School Foodservice Establishments: Health Inspection Reports
INOFOOD 2013 Conference & Expo
The 3rd Asia Pacific International Conference on Food Safety
China International Food Safety & Quality Conference (CIFSQ) + Expo
Dubai International Food Safety Conference (DIFSC)
Beyond the Bio
FSMA: Article 7
PDG
Industry Products
Coming Events

Food Protection Trends - January/February 2014