Food for Thought

Examples of counterfeit goods abound, as readers of this blog will note. Now, counterfeiters have set their sites on another target: food. As this article by Katye Martens in the USA Today demonstrates, it is often easy for a food supplier to dilute or lie about a food's content. Examples include using farm-raised salmon as a cheaper substitute for wild salmon, dilution of olive oil with soybean oil or other kinds of oil, and using cane sugar as a substitute for honey.

It's fraud, plain and simple. Fortunately, law enforcement resources are somewhat more abundant in this area, as laws against fake "adulterated" food are enforced by the stern folks at the Food and Drug Administration. Nevertheless, adulteration of food is a serious problem. Read the whole thing.


UPDATE: Environmental Blogger Verda Vido expands on the USA Today article here. She cites the U.S. Food and Drug Administration resources to help determine whether the fish you buy is fake, which can be found here and here. She also provides other helpful links to help determine the purity of honey (very useful) as well as certified suppliers for olive oil, maple syrup and honey. And last but not least, she links to an authentic homebrew recipie for the otherwise frequently faked vanilla extract. Good stuff. Check it out if you get the chance.