Vendors Team Up to Use AI to Battle Food Fraud

Asian catfish sold as grouper. Wood pulp in shredded Parmesan cheese. Pomegranate juice cut with grape juice. These are just a few examples of food fraud, more formally known as economically motivated adulteration (EMA), an established threat to the food supply and consumers. 

To combat this issue, FoodChain ID licensed technology from  Battelle to fight food fraud using EMAlert, a food fraud prediction tool using artificial intelligence to identify potential hazards in the global food supply chain.

Newly added enhancements to the EMAlert intuitive software tool, combined with integrating data from FoodChain’s Food Fraud Database, enable food manufacturers to rapidly analyze and understand potential food fraud vulnerabilities in their supply chain. The approach mirrors a predictive analytic tool Battelle developed for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Food fraud prevention requires reviewing various data sources and information, including known fraud events, supply chain characteristics, economic and pricing information, the availability of authenticity methods, and geopolitical conditions in source countries.  Developed to allow the simultaneous evaluation and tracking of these factors over time, EMAlert is a powerful tool in fighting food fraud. EMAlert provides quantitative estimates of an organization’s vulnerability to EMA for various commodities.

FoodChain ID’s Food Fraud Database is a continuously updated collection of thousands of ingredients, and related records gathered from scientific literature, media publications, regulatory reports, judicial records, and trade associations from around the world dating back many years. The database identifies trends and vulnerabilities through a customizable dashboard, powerful search capabilities, and automated analytics.

EMAlert, combined with the Food Fraud Database, provides food professionals with an opportunity to identify potential hazards so they can prepare alternative strategies. Those alternatives could include identifying suppliers from a more favorable region of the world or investing in research to develop identity tests for targeted commodities.