ROCKVILLE, MD. — The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention on Nov. 17 pre-released “Guidance on Food Fraud Mitigation,” a guidance document covering economically-motived fraudulent adulteration of food ingredients (E.M.A.).

“The aim of this guidance is to provide a tool to assist manufacturers and regulators in how to identify the most fraud vulnerable ingredients in their supply chains and how to choose effective mitigation tools to combat E.M.A.,” said Jeff Moore, Ph.D., senior scientific liaison at U.S. Pharmacopeial. “The real challenge in preventing E.M.A. is its unpredictable nature, and our guidance represents a leap forward in overcoming this hurdle.”

The document was designed to be applicable to any food ingredient. Any food fraud management system developed from the document should involve characterization of food fraud vulnerabilities, contributing factors and impacts assessments, followed by design and review of a mitigation strategy and its implementation.

Contributing factors in the tool go beyond fraud history to include economic and geopolitical anomalies, audit strategies, and supply chain and supplier characteristics.