The Food Crime Annual Strategic Assessment (FCASA), carried out by the The Food Standards Agency (FSA) National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) on behalf of the FSA and Food Standards Scotland, examines the scale and nature of the food crime threat to the UK’s £200 billion food and drink industry. The assessment will inform the NFCU’s priorities over the next year.

The assessment identifies a wide range of vulnerabilities and risks across the food industry but found little to suggest that organized crime groups have so far made substantial in-roads into UK food supply chains.  However, with the UK food and drink sector representing 11% of the UK economy and chances of detection relatively low, the report suggests there remains a significant risk to consumers and legitimate businesses from serious fraud.

Andy Morling, Head of the NFCU, said, ‘The NFCU was established in the wake of the horsemeat incident. That incident came at a huge cost to the UK food industry, not just financially but also in terms of reputation. It illustrated why it is vital for the food industry, law enforcement agencies and regulators to work together to combat the threat of food crime.

From the executive summary:

Food and drink is a £200 billion industry in the UK and like any major industry, it’s vulnerable to a wide range of criminal activity. Unlike many industries, the crimes are often undetected or unreported. Consumers may not be aware they are victims of food crime, while businesses can worry that reporting a crime will damage their reputation or profits. Nonetheless, reported or otherwise, the impact of food crime can be extremely harmful to individuals, the economy and the UK’s reputation.

For the purposes of this report we define food crime as dishonesty in food production or supply, which is either complex or results in serious harm to consumers, businesses or the public interest. We’ve worked hard to gain insight into this diverse, complex and nuanced area of criminal activity.

As well as exploring what current intelligence and reporting can tell us about food crime, our initial assessment also highlights what we don’t know, and why this might be the case. Estimating the scale and impact of food crime can be challenging. Fraud is by definition a hidden activity and the parties involved may be skilled at cloaking their criminality. This challenge has been magnified by a lack of available intelligence and crime reporting relating to this area.