It is very difficult to estimate the cost of food fraud to society, both for individual incidents and overall. Ten years ago, GMA (now the Consumer Brands Association) and A.T. Kearney estimated that all consumer product fraud cost the U.S. $10-15 billion per year. PwC subsequently estimated food fraud costs at $30-40 billion globally per year, based on using data on counterfeit products as a proxy. Finally, the Center for Counter Fraud Studies/BDO estimated costs of fraud to the food industry in the U.K. at £11.2 billion per year.

The Food Standards Agency of the U.K. released a report about a research project aimed at developing an economic model for estimating the “full range of costs attributed to food crime in UK society.” The report reviews previous estimates of the cost of food crime and proposes an economic framework that would consider a wide range of effects resulting from food fraud and food crime. The Decernis Food Fraud Database is cited as one possible source to support some of the elements of the model, including health care costs and decreased quality of life.

Download the full Food Fraud Database November 2020 Newsletter here.

Posted on 18 December 2020