The Dynamics of Food Crime

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

Despite 'food crimes' being a longstanding phenomenon, they have traditionally not been strongly recognised as a major global policy issue or been comprehensively conceptualised by the scientific community. In recent years, however, food crimes, such as food frauds and the adulteration and mislabelling of food, or the counterfeiting of foodstuffs, have emerged as primary issues of social policy nationally, regionally and internationally. Recent scandals such as the substitution of beef mince with horsemeat, or the production and distribution of fake alcohols, have increased public and policy awareness of the multiple harms – social, economic and/or physical - that such food crimes present. Consequently, international/supranational organisations such as European Union are now progressively concerned that such cases signal an increase in the number of food crime incidents and that this growing trend reflects a structural weakness within the food chain and the food system and markets more generally. However, empirical understanding of food crimes remains underdeveloped. This panel presents ‘state of the art’ developments in food crime research.

Sub Unit

• Area V: Types of Offending / 23: Organized Crime and Corruption

Individual Presentations

• The Dynamics of Counterfeit Alcohol Distribution - Jon Spencer, University of Manchester, UK; Nicholas Lord, University of Manchester, UK

• The Deadly War of “Duchess” and “Honey”: Exploring the Opportunities for Counterfeit Alcohol in Different Social Settings - Anna Markovska, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

• Food Fraud Incident Clustering and Applying the Crime Triangle - John Spink, Michigan State University

• Bad Milk Powder Drives Out Good - Melvin Soudijn, National Police of the Netherlands

Chair

• Nicholas Lord, University of Manchester, UK

Discussant

• Jay S. Albanese, Virginia Commonwealth University