This is the title of the current aid project of Veterinarians without Borders and at the same time the focus of the campaign VACCINATION FOR AFRICA 2020. Our goal is to hold workshops on food fraud in the poorest regions of the world and to carry out control examinations of food on-site. In cooperation with local food control authorities and universities professionals are trained....

Did you know that, in Africa alone, about 300 million people live in slums? This corresponds to the total population of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Austria! Slum dwellers are purchasing their staple foods on the black market. Many of these foods are of inferior quality, adulterated or harmful to health.

For the past few years, Veterinarians without Borders has been on track of global food fraud. Our research in this field regularly leads us to the slums of African megacities. As in all developing regions, the monitoring of food is rather insufficient there.

Food fraud can have consequences on health or financially. The latter are associated with additional costs for the consumer or economic losses for trade.

In terms of health, however, food fraud can lead to allergies or permanent physical damage, even to death of consumers!

Food fraud occurs when foodstuffs are placed on the market with the aim of achieving a financial or economic gain through intentional deception of consumers.

The world population is growing. To feed the world and do it sustainably, an urgent and radical shift in our food systems is inevitable. The United Nations have proclaimed the Decade of Family Farming in order to give this paradigm shift the necessary scope. To foster biological diversity and sustainable food production instead of intensive farming...

This alarming result was published by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) in July. Thus, the number of malnourished people has increased for the third year in a row. The report can be found here.

Today is World Water Day. Globally, about 84 percent of extracted freshwater is used for agriculture. According to estimates of the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) by 2030 it is expected that agricultural demand for water alone will outstrip available supply (<link...

Our comments on the issue of food fraud over the last few weeks may have raised the question on measures suited to improve consumer safety. Prof. Dagmar Schoder is head of the working group "Global Food Safety" at the Vetmeduni Vienna. She says: "We need a powerful, efficient food control at global level. A task force should be set up to act...

The probability of food fraud depends essentially on three factors:

1. Is there direct contact between manufacturers and consumers? - Direct contact assures an active feedback loop and hence immediate control. The producer feels obliged to the consumer.
2. Code of honor - Do producers and retailers adhere to appropriate value systems and quality...