The 5 most ‘faked’ foods on the market

Five of the foods most commonly mislabelled, blended or bulked out with cheaper ingredients have been revealed in a new study by supply chain experts Authenticate.

Incidences of food fraud are on the rise, the organisation warns, adding that greater transparency is needed across the industry to prevent consumers buying potentially inferior products.

It is a practice, says Authenticate CEO Alex Walters, that harms both retailers and shoppers, undermining trust, damaging reputations, jeopardising health, and costing millions. The cost to the global economy, he adds, is somewhere in the region of $40 billion each year (£2 billion in the UK), with between 2016 and 2019, suspected EU cases of food fraud increased by 85% - a figure that experts predict will rise.

Investigations into tomato puree, seafood, honey, olive oil, and herbs and spices all showed concerning results, Alex explained.

Recently, for example, the BBC revealed some UK supermarkets were selling ‘Italian’ tomato puree, most likely made using Chinese tomatoes.

“The incident of Italian tomatoes being substituted for cheaper, less ethically produced varieties caused significant reputational and economic damage to supermarkets and eroded consumer trust,” he said.

“For 9 in 10 jars of honey on UK supermarket shelves to have been found to have been bulked with sugar syrup reveals the extent of the problem,” he added.

The adulteration of honey goes beyond Britain, said Lynne Ingram, chair of the Honey Authenticity Network UK and ambassador for the British Beekeepers Association.

“All over the world the genuine, real honey market is being saturated by very very cheap honey coming from a few particular countries.” We import, she explained, around 52,000 tonnes of honey per year into the UK – 39,000 tonnes from China. “That’s 77%. You’ll find every little, if any British honey in most shops. Everything is imported and blended. It will say ‘a blend of honey from non-EU countries’ on the label. And the prices are so cheap. No real beekeeper producing real honey anywhere could make it for the prices we’re seeing.”

In seafood, multiple studies using DNA analysis revealed that 55% of tested products in UK markets, fishmongers and restaurants were mislabelled.

Olive oil fraud and mislabelling cases reached a record high in the EU in 2024, driven by the inflated price premium oils can command, and the availability of lower-grade, cheaper, blended oils.

And spices are being impacted too. EU studies found oregano to be the most at risk of being ‘faked’ with nearly half of samples tested at risk of being bulked with olive leaves.

This doesn’t surprise Food of Gods founder Prerna Baruah who says retailers need to ask more questions about the supply chain of the spices they stock to ensure authenticity and quality. The widescale adulteration in the category is, she said, “absolutely unmissable”. 

This inspired Prerna to launch her own ethical, single-origin spice brand. “As a consumer myself, I was sick and tired of the kind of spices sold everywhere. The category still heavily relies on old and dusty spices on supermarket shelves!”

Using technology is key to reducing incidences of food fraud by mapping supply chains effectively, said Alex.

“Food fraudsters are taking advantage of increasingly complex supply chains and global events such as climate change, the pandemic and wars, which are driving up prices. Making increasingly complex food supply chains more open and observable is key for both supermarkets and shoppers’ understanding of the entire journey of a food product.”

Transparency involves those across the chain sharing information about ethical sourcing, sustainability, and compliance, Alex added.

What do fine food stores need to know?

Specialist retailers can mitigate the risk of food fraud impacting them by being suspicious of low prices (often when something seems too good to be true, it is), by choosing local and regional products where they can visit the makers and be assured of provenance and quality, and by only choosing to work with brands that can demonstrate full traceability throughout their supply chains.

The food fraud scandal is also an opportunity to demonstrate why independents remain a valuable part of the retail industry. Give your customers as much information as you can about what’s going in their baskets, and why it’s superior to what they might find elsewhere. Is your olive oil single origin from a certain organic farm in Spain? Where are the tomatoes in your jarred sauces and chopped tins grown? Where is your fresh seafood landed? Which flowers are the bees producing your honey foraging? All these details matter.

Absolutely essential is getting those producers in for tastings and demonstrations. Meeting the people behind the products, and making those connections helps build trust with brands, and within your business.