While the recession and inflation pinch margins tighter in the food industry and pressures in supply chains result in higher consumer prices and decreased competitiveness, manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors often attempt to reduce costs, and become more vulnerable to seeking shortcuts to stay competitive in business. Food fraud puts consumers’ health and safety at risk, generates unfair market competition, and threatens consumer trust in the food system. Unscrupulous suppliers and manufacturers might be tempted to take advantage of loopholes in the surveillance, investigation, enforcement, and prosecution of food fraud to keep the increase in costs of their products to consumers as low as possible. This session will address: 1. What is food fraud? Food fraud is a criminal act involving intentional adulteration, deliberate mislabeling, or misdescription of food for financial gain. 2. What are the top 10 food fraud products? 3. How do you spot potential food fraud? (Commonly substituted ingredients that are involved, ingredients priced and sold well under market value, lack of traceability records for ingredients and commodities, ingredients that do not match their description, questionable accreditation or quality claims, replacement, removal, and/or addition of ingredients, and absence, falsification, or incorrect food labeling) 4. Certification options and benefits of certifications: because food fraud can take many forms and can infiltrate supply chains at many stages, more companies are demanding certification of all vendors in their supply chains to reduce the risk for contamination and food fraud as well as mitigate risk for potential liabilities