Food fraud, new prevention systems to protect consumers and Made in Italy

On 24 October in Bologna the CSQA seminar to discuss with businesses and professionals in the agro-food sector



The number of counterfeit products on the market is growing, with a presence that reaches 338 billion euros in value worldwide through the contamination of numerous product categories: agri-food, medicines, cosmetics, textiles, electronics, etc. A crime, that of fraud, which favors subjects who act against the community by damaging consumers and which is aggravated by those types of offenses with repercussions on the health and safety of citizens. An example above all is the case of European Geographical Indications, a Community excellence, where frauds reach a value of 4.3 billion, representing almost 10% of legal production.

Among the sectors most sensitive to the phenomenon is the agri-food sector, not only due to the repercussions on the consumer, but also due to the legal consequences that could affect companies accused of fraudulent conduct, linked to crimes envisaged by the legislative decree governing administrative liability (Legislative Decree 231/01).

At an international level, the issue of fraud in the agri-food sector is also addressed by the most widespread voluntary standards on food safety such as GGFSI, FSSC 22000 and IFS. More recently ISO has published ISO 22380:2018, 'Security and resilience– Authenticity, integrity and trust for products and documents – General principles for product fraud risk and counter measures'. This is a guideline that proposes a methodology for assessing fraud risk and evaluating the effectiveness of the actions implemented to reduce risk, always with a view to prevention. One of the innovative elements introduced by ISO 22380 is the requirement to map/assess/manage the entire Supply Chain and not the single operating site or the simple supplier-customer relationship.
The general theme of compliance, the relationship between voluntary standards and legal obligations, the integration of prevention and guarantee systems with corporate governance tools will be at the center of the "Authenticity and fraud" seminar organized by CSQA on 24 October in Bologna with the aim of discussing the issue with agri-food companies and professionals in the sector.

“With this seminar we want to support Italian companies in identifying tools for the prevention and management of fraud by framing the issue in the more general context of compliance and corporate organizational models. We want to promote the adoption of organizational models that integrate corporate governance, compliance management systems, risk assessment and management – declares Maria Chiara Ferrarese Deputy Director of Csqa .