Defining “food fraud” gave MSU the momentum necessary to start helping other countries prevent profits made on mis-marketed food. Now, Dr. John Spink is working to gain formal recognition and support.

“Adding food fraud to the Codex is the first step,” said Dr Spink. He is the director of MSU’s Food Fraud Initiative and an assistant professor in Large Animal Clinical Sciences at the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine. The book he’s talking about is the Codex Alimentarius, or “food code.”

“The food code is international law for more than 180 member countries,” said Dr. Spink. “It protects consumer health and promotes fair food trade practices. By formally adding food fraud to the code, we can begin creating global standards to protect our communities.”

In his latest blog, Dr. Spink details current efforts to get Food Fraud added to the Codex, including two recommendations generated by MSU’s Food Fraud Initiative report.

“We want to add a statement on food fraud to the Codex to allow formal review and assessment,” said Dr. Spink. “Second, we want the US Delegation to propose hosting an Electronic Working Group, which we hope would lead to an ad-hoc Inter-governmental Task Force that will examine public health impacts and trade economic aspects.”

Dr. Spink and the Food Fraud Initiative are focused on interdisciplinary research, education, and outreach that contributes to public health and economic vulnerabilities and threats. This includes issues such as adulteration, misbranding, tampering, overruns or license fraud, theft, diversion, simulation, and counterfeiting.

“Our mission is to reduce food chain supply vulnerability,” said Dr. Spink. “Tackling Food Fraud is a huge part of that.”