Solving Food Fraud

Rising cost of food fraud

Food fraud and misrepresentation is estimated to cost the Australian food industry AU$3 billion (and Globally US$50 billion) every year in lost revenue plus immeasurable loss in consumer confidence, health and safety.

What we can do about it

Addressing the slippery issue of product fraud would involve a number of factors. If consumer awareness of food fraud was elevated, businesses would probably respond in kind, according to Professor Lester. “I think there’s a misconception that this isn’t a problem, and people are able to trust what it is they’re buying,” she said. Another part of the problem is that some industries and businesses are choosing to bury their heads in the sand. Technology also has a major role to play, but it comes at a significant financial investment. “It almost takes someone who’s willing to be a trailblazer for it.”

Common Products impacted by fraud

Products commonly impacted by food fraud include honey, tee tree oil, dairy products, meat and organically grown produce. These items are often mislabeled, adulterated, watered down with cheaper ingredients or entirely fraudulent.

Honey Case Study

It's estimated that 20% of honey is adulterated with syrup. Zondii can verify the honey is pure.

The higher value Manuka honey has an even bigger issue with statistics showing that 1.7 tonnes are produced in New Zealand annually, yet 10 tonnes are sold globally.

Not only does this hurt the producer, who’s trying to do the right thing. It also destroys consumer confidence in high-quality products. The trust is broken.

Zondii shows authenticity

If your produce is regeneratively, biodynamically or holistically grown, authentic, pure... perhaps all of the above, we don’t need to tell you the importance of consumer trust.

Zondii will help drive consumer demand by proving the authenticity and quality of your product. Because oftentimes it’s what you can’t see that matters most.

Tee Tree Oil Case Study

AITTA ( the tee tree oil representative organisation) has identified up to 50% of commercial tee tree oil samples as adulterated to varying levels.
Genuine producers pride themselves on distilling a 100 per cent pure product that causes no skin irritations but chemically ‘correct’ imitations, created from waste pine oil or waste eucalyptus oil have in recent times flooded the market, presenting themselves as ‘100pc pure’ at a much lower cost to the consumer.
The products are blended with terpinen-4-ol, a byproduct of the processing of other oils such as Sandalwood, Pine Oil and Eucalyptus – effectively industrial waste.

The solution for genuine producers:

It’s no accident you’ve got a superior product - one that’s authentic and pure. That’s why you’re in the game.
But you’ve also got a business to run. You deserve and need to be compensated fairly for a premium quality product.
We’re not going to pretend there’s one easy answer, we know there are many factors that contribute to your profitability. However, consumer-led demand for high-quality, unadulterated products is one part of the puzzle.

Zondii will help drive consumer demand by proving the purity of your product because quality and saf

Ginger Case Study

The 2016/17 farmgate value of Australia's ginger crop was $31 million.
The Australian Ginger Industry Association’s Industry Production Target aims to lift Australian ginger production from 8,000 to 12,000 tonnes per annum by 2021, while sustaining profitable farm gate prices.
Key to achieving this is improving on-farm productivity. Pests and diseases pose the largest production concern to most ginger growers and are a constant threat to yields.
Growers consider a 10% loss in a patch acceptable, but at times some patches can experience over 80% losses.
The most common disease threat is Fusarium yellow rot. It can be spread through soil from infected plant material.
Identification and removal of diseased seed stock is a labour intensive process, attracting high direct labour costs.

Zondii aims to improve on farm productivity through the development of an automated system that identifies Fusarium infected seed ginger stock.