food fraud
Cheap Parmesan Is Made From Delicious Wood Pulp
The cheese they called Parmesan was a combination of cellulose (an anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp), white cheddar, Swiss, and mozzarella.
China Has a New System for Detecting the Sketchy Additives and Dyes in Its Food
Shanghai’s food and drug watchdog has invested in a new testing system that it hopes will stem the seemingly never-ending problem of food scandals. This new “instant testing system” can detect the presence of illegal food additives.
Fancy Italian Mozzarella Has a Dark Secret About Its Origins
Police in Puglia have seized three and a half tons of curd from a farm in the Murgia area. The curd was in a poor state of preservation and may have come from Germany, of all places.
You Might Want to Rethink That Late Night Lamb Kebab
A takeaway in Leeds was recently busted for selling a lamb doner kebab billed as "100-percent lamb" that actually contained nearer to 5 percent. And it's hardly the only restaurant secretly swapping one meat for another.
San Diego's Sushi Restaurants Have Been Serving Lobster Rolls with No Lobster in Them
The Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit of the San Diego just convicted eight local sushi restaurants for seafood fraud. San Diego will not be putting up with faux sushi.
Italy Just Broke up a Multi-Million-Dollar Olive Oil Scheme
Shit just got real in the slippery and cutthroat world of Italian olive oil. Italy, the EU’s second-largest producer of olive oil, announced just yesterday that authorities have shut down an unprecedented Puglia-based olive oil scam.
NYC Officials Made Millions by Illegally Selling Red Bulls Bought with Food Stamps
A ring led by a New York State Human Resources Administration bureaucrat came up with a way to rip off $2 million in food stamps and other public assistance benefits over the past five years. They even used the proceeds to start a business reselling...
Somebody Made Millions Selling In-N-Out Franchises That Didn't Exist
This week, 56-year-old Newport Beach native Craig Stevens was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud for the solicitation of more than $4.2 million from swindled investors who had purchased nonexistent In-N-Out franchises...
Counterfeiting Parmesan Is a Very Serious Crime
A Pennsylvania cheese manufacturing business has been accused of conspiracy in selling imitation “Parmesan” and “Romano” cheese that actually contains other cheeses, such as Cheddar and Swiss.
Camping Out for $2,000 Bordeaux in British Columbia
Canada's wine aficionados lined up as early as 7PM for the chance to get their hands on bottles from legendary châteaux like Pétrus, Margaux, Mouton Rothschild, and Lafite Rothschild when the store opened the next morning.
Chinese Counterfeit Eggs Made of Plastic May Be Popping Up in Thailand
Somebody is allegedly trying to sell Thai people fake eggs made of plastic. And those eggs are thought to be coming from China.
50,000 Horses Disappeared During Europe's Meat Fraud Scandal
Europe’s 2013 horsemeat scandal may actually have been responsible for the mysterious disappearance of 50,000 horses. We may never regard a meadow filled with quietly grazing horses in the same way again.