Media reports mentioned in the JRC monthly food fraud reports are selected from the following sources if they fulfil one or more of the criteria listed below:

 Sources

• Medical Information System (MedISys): an internet monitoring and analysis system. Food adulteration relevant keywords are used for queries (reviewed systematically on a weekly basis). The information processed by MedISys is derived from the Europe Media Monitor. For more details about MEDISYS, please visit MEDISYS.

• Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF): an electronic tool to exchange information about serious risks detected in relation to food or feed among EU Member States. For more details about RASFF, please visit RASFF.

• When possible, the press articles are traced back to an official source that will be mentioned in the report.

Food types

The list of commodities often subject to fraud as defined by the EU Parliament in its resolution of 14 January 2014 on the food crisis, fraud in the food chain and the control thereof forms the basis for selecting cases: Olive oil, fish, organic products, grains, honey, coffee, tea, spices, wine, certain fruit juices, milk and meat.

For more details about the European Parliament resolution, please visit here.

Fraud definition

The working definition of DG Health and Food Safety (SANTE) is used:

• Violation of EU food law;

• Intentional fraud;

• Economical motivation;

• Customer deception.

Fraud scale and novelty

A significant impact and volume.

Safety

 Priority is given if the fraud may lead to a safety concern

Disclaimer

The selection of articles reflects their media coverage. In any case, it does not reflect the frequency of food fraud in a particular country and/or concerning a particular food product.

For more details about the selection criteria, please visit here.