What is food crime?
Food crime involves serious and intentional dishonesty that impacts the safety or authenticity of food, drink or animal feed. The techniques used in food crime are:
| Crime technique | Definition |
|---|---|
| Theft | The dishonest appropriation of food, drink or feed products from their lawful owner with an intention to benefit economically from their subsequent use or sale |
| Unlawful processing | The slaughter, preparation or processing of products of animal origin outside of the relevant regulatory framework |
| Waste diversion | The unauthorised diversion of food, drink or feed intended for disposal back into relevant supply chains |
| Adulteration | Reducing the quality of a food product through the inclusion of a foreign substance, with the intention either to make production costs lower, or apparent quality higher |
| Substitution | Replacing a food product or ingredient with another substance of a similar but inferior kind |
| Misrepresentation of origin, quality, provenance or benefits | The marketing or labelling of a product so as to inaccurately portray its quality, safety, benefit, origin or freshness |
|
Document fraud |
The use of false or misappropriated documents to sell, market or otherwise vouch for a fraudulent or substandard product |
As a consumer, you can play a part along with food businesses and industry, regulators and law enforcement, in ensuring food in Scotland is safe and authentic.
If you suspect a food crime has taken place, you can report this to us completely anonymously. You can contact us by:
- Phoning the Scottish Food Crime Hotline on 0800 028 7926
- Completing the online form
- Emailing foodcrime@fss.scot to speak with a Food Crime team member in confidence
Find out more about our food crime strategy in Scotland and our priorities for 2020/21.
Food crime
Find out more about food crime and how to report it.
Report food crime toolkit
How to support our campaign
Report Food Crime - Leaflet
Help us prevent food crime.
Food incidents
A food incident occurs when there are concerns about threats to the safety or quality of food and/or feed.
