How to win the fight against food crime - member-only event
This event has finished.
Presentations available to download for members only. See programme to download presentations.
Summary
We are excited to invite our members to our Chipping Campden site for a special member-only on-site event.
According to the Food Authenticity Network, food fraud costs the global food industry an estimated 40 billion US dollars annually.
Cost and availability pressures can be drivers of food fraud / adulteration and other malpractices, used in fraudulent attempts to boost profits through lower costs or increased bulk. Many adulterating agents could be used, including those that are allergenic or otherwise unsafe.
Attend this event to hear from expert speakers on the latest information and thinking on identifying and dealing with the threat of food fraud.
There will be opportunities for valuable networking, and to talk to specialists about any queries you have.
Who should attend
This is a member-only event that will be well suited to Quality, Technical and Food Safety Managers and Directors, and Procurement Managers and Directors.
Benefits of attending
- The latest information and thinking on identifying and dealing with the threat of food fraud
- On-site networking
- Focussed agenda
- Special guest presenters
- Site tours
Provisional programme
| Time | Presentation |
|---|---|
| 9:30 | Coffee, networking and optional site tours |
| 10:30 | Welcome, introduction and housekeeping Bertrand Emond, Campden BRI |
| 10:35 | Chair opening remarks and presentation: From toxic corporate climates to adulterated foods Saskia van Ruth, University College Dublin At the root of the food fraud dilemma lies not a microbe or a pollutant like with many food quality and safety issues, but rather a human adversary. It is the conscious decisions made by individuals to transgress ethical boundaries, either for personal gain or on behalf of a company. Those implicated in these frauds, predominantly criminal food professionals - not professional criminals, are governed by the prevailing culture and environment in which they operate. The ethical corporate culture of a business is a proxy measure of fraud, i.e. a weak culture creates a climate in which illicit activities flourish. Our research indicates a strong correlation between a poor corporate climate and instances of offending behaviour in global food supply chains. Consequently, these facets warrant careful consideration in the efforts to prevent food fraud. |
| 11:05 | A food industry perspective on food fraud – the risks, mitigation and monitoring Kevin Barker, 2 Sisters Food Group Challenges to the integrity of the feed and food supply chains has never been greater. We are at a point in time where the influences of global geopolitical issues and climate challenges are having and significant impact on a wide range of raw materials and their supply chains. Shortages in availability of these raw materials are leading to substantial price increases and in some cases criminal activity, which in turn is posing a threat to the integrity, safety and quality of raw materials used across the industry. The need for robust horizon scanning processes have never been more critical. All the key indicators need to be monitored closely if a clear understanding of the potential impacts are to be established. A clear understanding of the risks provides an opportunity to implement effective control measures to mitigate the risks identified. Whilst many of these controls will by driven by individual businesses, there is also a great benefit in collaboration across the industry and supply chains in applying a joint approach to tackle these issues. Finally, there is a need to continue to explore opportunities to develop analytical methods. As our understanding of food fraud risks increases then it is essential that the analytical methods keep pace. |
| 11:35 | Networking break and refreshments |
| 12:05 | Joining forces: fiin, a collaborative approach to intelligence sharing Sophie Lawrence, fiin Explore the critical role of intelligence sharing to combat fraudulent practices within the food system. The session confronts the challenges faced by the industry, examines practical aspects of intelligence sharing and outline fiin’s collaborative framework. This structure enables both confidential intelligence sharing between industry members and partnership with government bodies to comprehensively understand potential risks within the UK food industry. |
| 12:30 | Food crime prevention Ron McNaughton, Food Standards Scotland The presentation will provide information on Food Standard Scotland’s food crime prevention strategic plan and cover the importance of working with key stakeholders to mitigate the risk of criminality impacting on food supply chains. It will provide details on the recently launched food crime profiling tool for food businesses. Presentation description... |
| 13:00 | Networking lunch |
| 14:00 | Developments in UK food authenticity research including detection challenges Selvarani Elahi, LGC Unlike analytical test methods for food safety components, where testing is performed to check compliance against a legislative limit or some other recommendation such as maximum residue limits, food authenticity methods compare unknown samples against a reference set of ‘authentic’ samples. The challenge of obtaining traceable, internationally accepted reference samples for comparison, for the vast variety of foods that exist, remains one of the biggest challenges for food authenticity testing methods and is a barrier to the universal application / standardisation of methods. Thus, verifying the authenticity of / detecting fraud in foods is not straight forward. This presentation will report on the findings of three current UK government funded research projects covering methods for verifying the authenticity of herbs and species, the use of point of contact and next generation sequencing methods for food authenticity. Presentation description... |
| 14:30 | Effective crisis response and insurance solutions in the event of a food fraud incident Luke Withers, Lockton and Julia Johnson, Instinctif Partners This presentation will focus on the immediate impacts of a food fraud event and the potential financial and reputational damage that businesses can and do suffer. The presentation will explore how Insurance can provide financial relief, how policies are triggered and what aspects of a loss would be covered. It will also be exploring some of the key elements of a successful response to a food fraud event and key considerations for businesses with their crisis response to mitigate the impacts and protect their brand and reputation. |
| 14:55 | Best practice in risk assessment and communication, TACCP/VACCP Richard Leathers, Campden BRI Looking at food fraud and food defence the facts and how to use the data. This presentation will cover the importance of the difference between food fraud and food defence, looking at the requirements and assessments. Presentation description... |
| 15:20 | Closing remarks |
| 15:30 | Coffee, networking and optional site tours |
Speakers
Bertrand Emond, Campden BRI
Bertrand has a wealth of knowledge, experience and connectivity from working here at Campden BRI since 1988. Bertrand has a Master's in Food Science & Technology (Dijon, France) and a Master's of Business Administration (Bath, UK).
Bertrand is passionate about supporting the industry in the areas of skills, knowledge, training, learning and development, competency and achieving culture excellence through behaviour change. He won the 2020 BRCGS CEO Europe Award recognising his commitment and contribution to food safety and the 2014 Heinz Award for Excellence for Leadership in Collaborative CPD for the Industry (in particular for his role in supporting competency and CPD, promoting the food industry as a career of choice, and providing collaboration between all stakeholders).
Saskia van Ruth, Professor of Food Supply Chain Integrity, University College Dublin, Ireland
Saskia van Ruth is full professor of Food Supply Chain Integrity at University College Dublin in Ireland in the School of Agriculture and Food Science. She deals with food authenticity and integrity issues on a daily basis and is particularly interested in the prevention and comprehension of food fraud as well as the development of novel food authentication technology.
After having taken her PhD in food chemistry at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, she worked on flavour science in industry and the academic world for nine years. She was affiliated for seven years with University College Cork in Ireland. In 2005 she returned to the Netherlands and took up the position of head of the food authenticity and nutrients group at RIKILT Wageningen University and Research. She was appointed professor in the Food Authenticity domain at Wageningen University in the Netherlands in 2012 and at Queen’s University Belfast in the UK in 2018, whereas she continued to work part-time at RIKILT Wageningen University and Research as well. In 2023 she joined University College Dublin in Ireland as full professor on Food Supply Chain Integrity. Prof. van Ruth worked with a wide variety of stakeholders: Regulatory bodies, food industry, retail, food service, certification bodies, farmers, traders, commercial laboratories, technology providers, etc. She has (co-)authored over 300 scientific publications, taught in over 30 different modules, and supervised over 170 thesis students.
Sophie Lawrence, Programme Manager, Food Industry Intelligence Network (fiin)
Sophie is programme manager for the Food Industry Intelligence Network (fiin), an organisation that supports the food industry to share data and collaborate to promote supply chain integrity. She has recently completed a PhD at Queens University Belfast on food fraud risks in seafood supply chains. Prior to her PhD, she worked for the UK Food Standard Agency’s National Food Crime Unit where she assessed and managed inbound intelligence on food fraud. During the first part of her career, she worked in the corporate sector managing commercial relationships with corporate and government entities for Thomson Reuters and Dow Jones.
Kevin Barker, Group Produce SME & Integrity Lead, 2 Sisters Food Group
Kevin Barker is the Group Produce SME and Integrity Lead for 2 Sisters Food Group. As Integrity Lead, the main focus has been to build and maintain a robust process for food integrity across the business, ensuring confidence in the raw materials and supply chains used.
Kevin has worked in the food industry for over 30 years and this has included roles within technical and agronomy, covering all stages of the food chain from the farm through to retail. Throughout his career Kevin has focussed on the quality, safety and integrity of the raw materials produced in primary production and across the supply chain through to the consumer.
Kevin joined the 2 Sisters Food Group in November 2019 taking responsibility for leading food integrity for the group. Prior to this has worked for the Coop, Greencore, Bakkavor, HJ Heinz and Ministry Agriculture (DEFRA).
Kevin has a BSc degree in Biological Science from the University of Portsmouth.
Ron McNaughton, Head of Food Crime and Incidents, Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit, Food Standards Scotland
Ron was initially a consultant for Food Standards Scotland and became the Head of the Scottish Food Crime & Incidents Unit (SFCIU) in 2016 after being asked to build a food crime capability by the Chief Executive. A former Senior Police Officer in Scotland, he retired from the Police in 2015, after 30 years’ service. During this period, he served in a number of operational policing roles. For the last five years of his police service, he was specifically involved in leading the investigation into serious and organised crime as Force Authorising Officer and Head of Intelligence for Tayside Police. In that role he was responsible for all force covert activity. Latterly Ron worked within the Police Service of Scotland’s intelligence function and performed the role of Intelligence Commander for the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. In addition to his role at FSS he is also the current chair of the Global Alliance on Food Crime.
Selvarani Elahi, UK Deputy Government Chemist, LGC; Chair of Defra's Authenticity Methods Working Group (AMWG) and Executive Director of the Food Authenticity Network (FAN)
Selvarani has over 25 years’ experience in food and agricultural analysis working across a variety of policy areas to improve standards in measurement science.
Selvarani is the Executive Director of the Food Authenticity Network and was part of a three-person team that undertook a Review of the National Food Crime Unit. She is the Chair of Defra’s Authenticity Methods Working Group and is part of the UK delegation for some Codex and CEN committees.
In 2023, Selvarani chaired an expert Working Group that developed the world’s first protocol for the collection of reference honey samples for the construction of authenticity databases, and is part of the Expert Elicitation Group for the 2024 UK Food Security Report.
Selvarani is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Food Science and Technology. In 2020, she was awarded an MBE for services to food measurement services.
Luke Withers, Lockton
Following a degree in Safety, Health and Environmental Management, Luke has spent the last 13 years working in risk and insurance, focusing primarily on client service and leadership for complex, corporate and multinational organisations. He spent several years working at NFU Mutual and as a group secretary for the NFU; he has worked with some of the UK’s largest food and beverage organisations, placing and managing their insurance programmes, advising on risk management and dealing with complex multi-million pound claims. Luke currently leads the food, agri and beverage practice for Lockton in the UK, which is the businesses largest industry segment with several of the largest food and beverage businesses as their clients.
Julia Johnson, Instinctif Partners
An experienced risk and crisis practitioner and a food industry specialist, Julia devises and implements risk and crisis preparedness programmes for companies across the food industry spectrum. She leads Instinctif Partners’ crisis training relationship with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) – now in its 12th year – and heads our service for AXA XL recall insurance policyholders, which includes over 40 food businesses.
Richard Leathers, Campden BRI
Richard Leathers joined Campden BRI in September 2011, and has worked in the food industry for 4 decades.
Richard started working with Dairy Crest and subsequently worked for both Heinz, Unilever, Best Foods and Kanes Foods. Working in the areas of HACCP and Quality Management Systems, Richard also has experience within the fresh produce sector, as well as analysis systems in the milling / baking areas, and is a BRCGS qualified lead auditor.
Richard has contributed to several publications and guidelines, including those for TACCP, VACCP and HACCP / Risk Evaluation and is also trained at advanced level by EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering Design Group).