FOOD FRAUD INCIDENTS: FINDINGS FROM THE LATEST RAPID ALERT SYSTEM FOR FOOD AND FEED (RASFF) REPORT.

Food fraud remains an ever-existing issue, and especially in the context of the current COVID-19 crisis. Along with the recession that followed this pandemics, as well as lacking food supplies in some regions, criminal organizations around the world are trying to further expand their financial gains by means of various forms of food fraud, either counterfeiting, labeling or lack of adequate documentation. The present paper begins with a short theorization on food fraud and finishes with an analysis of the latest Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed report, in order to capture the essence of food fraud incidents that have occurred since May 2019 until present: the most frequent subject of incidents and degree of impact, their nature, along with the products mostly affected. Our results show that food fraud incidents consisted mostly of lacking documentation pertaining to each food product. While animal hides and certain poisonous substances have been detected only in certain cases, their importance is not be ignored in terms of public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]