Fight against food fraud: ensuring food safety and authenticity.
This webinar is part of a long-term timetable that includes a series of training events scheduled throughout the year, in order to pursue the final objective of the STOR: to strengthen the REMESA scientific network for exchange and connection between countries of the North Africa and South-Western Europe, to share common standards, to establish common guidelines for preventing, monitoring and control emerging veterinary risks among REMESA member countries. There were 100 participants who registered for the webinar from several countries of Mediterranean region.
The event started with welcome speech of Dr. Cristina Casalone, the scientific director of STOR office. She briefly summarized the role and strategy of STOR, then she presented the topic of the webinar “Food Fraud”. She explained the importance of identifying fraud, as it is primarily related to deceiving purchasers and gaining an undue advantage, as well as the potential health-related effects in some cases. She emphasized the need for increased attention and active collaboration among Mediterranean countries to fight against Food Fraud. Finally, she expressed her gratitude to the speakers and introduced the moderators, Dr. Elena Bozzetta and Dr. Mario Massaro.
The welcome speech was followed by WOAH/FAO REMESA secretariat in Tunisia, represented by Dr. Rachid Bouguedour and Dr. Mohammed Bengoumi who welcomed the participants, thanked the STOR office and speakers, and appreciated the webinar’s topic. They confirmed the need for more webinars and activities to raise awareness of colleagues in Mediterranean countries about the various forms of fraud and how to identify them.
The webinar featured 5 different contributions, presented by the leading experts in the field: Dr. Eva Siegener, DG SANTE; Dr. Ceyhun Güngör, INFOSAN; Dr. John Spink, Michigan State University; Dr. Mario Massaro, an expert veterinary officer in the Italian Ministry of Health; Dr. Gianluca Sabatino, EUROPOL.
The event concluded with words of gratitude from Dr. Casalone and Dr. Rachid to the moderators, speakers and participants, along with an announcement of the upcoming webinar on 19th June, 2023 on BIOSAFETY and BIOSECURITY.
Food fraud poses a serious threat to the food system.
Fraudulent activities represent a global problem and are characterized by their intentional nature and the end goal of making economic gain.
They violate rules, requirements, and agrifood chain legislation, and harm the immediate or final customer. In most cases, food fraud poses risks to human, animal, or plant health, animal welfare, and the environment, while disregarding moral and ethical principles.
This webinar will provide an overview of the state of the art in food fraud, including opportunities and challenges, as well as strategies adopted. It will also examine the fish supply chain as a model to illustrate vulnerability assessment and critical control point analysis for establishing targeted control plans and addressing the issue of counterfeit medicines.
Find below the links to the presentations of the webinar:
THE FOOD FRAUD NETWORK – Eva Siegener
MAPPING THE EVOLVING OF FOOD FRAUD OPPORTUNITY – John Spink
A LOOK TO THE TOP TEN FRAUDS: THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE IN FISH CHAIN – Mario Massaro
