Further horsemeat discovered in Europe as experts predict surge in Corona virus-related food fraud

With the disruption in food chains due to COVID-19, a rise in food fraud is expected to rise across the globe as fraudsters seek to sell a surplus of goods.

According to a recent Grocer article, the imbalance of supply/demand, and disrupted supply chains, has increased the risk of food fraud affecting businesses. The closure of meat processing plants in the US has left an excess supply of more than 1 million pigs per week, and many others around the world will be left in a similar circumstance.

A surplus of food products opens supply chains to exploitation from those seeking to sell these products. As supply chains deal with disruption at this time, gaps are left in which these products can enter, with origin fraud being a likely exploitation.

The effects of weakened supply chains are already being felt: at the end of April, two falsely-labelled shipments of horsemeat were seized in the Netherlands and Denmark, with one planned for placement on the market. This latest seizure has echoes of the UK’s horsemeat scandal, where various products labelled as beef were found to contain horsemeat, and although the shipments were discovered in time, an obvious conclusion is that criminals feel there are still ways to exploit supply chains.

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