You may have read about the Stark Naked Foods Ltd, which has been fined £23,500 plus costs for some bare-faced food fraud. Its pesto sauce was labelled as being made with extra virgin olive oil and Grana Padano cheese. It actually contained sunflower oil and a cheaper Latvian cheese.
This case, successfully prosecuted by Suffolk Trading Standards, represented a rip-off rather than a health risk. But food fraud can sometimes be extremely dangerous. For example, adulterated alcohol containing methanol and other illegal chemicals can blind and even kill.
Local authorities, sometimes supported financially by the FSA although not in this case, public analysts and FSA toxicologists are always on the case. If push comes to shove, the latest science can use DNA testing to trace some foods to the actual valley in which they were grown and isotopic fingerprinting to show where water in particular bottles of alcohol originated. But it all takes time.
The best solution is for consumers to keep food fraudsters out in the cold. Family budgets are tight in the run up to Christmas, but don’t be tempted to buy cheap alcohol from dubious sources. If you consume something sold off the back of a lorry, you might end up in the back of a hearse.