The Symposium brought trade negotiators together with experts on illicit trade in food and food fraud, international organizations, businesses, civil society and academics in an attempt to better understand the landscape of illegal trade, and how the WTO rule-book could contribute to stopping illegal practices. Agreements such as the Agreement on Pre-Shipment Inspection and the Agreement on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights were in focus.
From food fraud to the large scale smuggling of agriculture products, illicit trade in agri-foods undermines farming and the global food trade system, destabilizes rural economies and jeopardizes production and delivery of fair, safe and sustainable food supplies. According to the Transnational Allicance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT), food fraud is the intentional substitution or dilution of an authentic food or ingredient with a cheaper product (such as replacing extra virgin olive oil with a cheaper oil), flavor or color enhancement using illicit or unapproved substances, or substitution of one species with another.
From food fraud to the large scale smuggling of agriculture products, illicit trade in agri-foods undermines farming and the global food trade system, destabilizes rural economies and jeopardizes production and delivery of fair, safe and sustainable food supplies. According to the Transnational Allicance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT), food fraud is the intentional substitution or dilution of an authentic food or ingredient with a cheaper product (such as replacing extra virgin olive oil with a cheaper oil), flavor or color enhancement using illicit or unapproved substances, or substitution of one species with another.
The smuggling of agriculture products is driven by a disparity between the price of a good at its origin and its (prohibited) destination, which can include price differentials deriving from government subsidies. Sugar, tea and cocoa smuggling, for example, destabilize food supplies and erode the sustainability of their underlying legal industries. Fake infant milk powder and dangerously recycled vegetable oils are examples of how adulterated food supplies contribute to malnutrition.
The Symposium explored the incentives that lie behind these practices, discussing how best to control them, and the role that the WTO could play.
11/12 Illicit Trade in Food and Food Fraud
- Moderator Doaa Abdel-Motaal Senior Counsellor, Agriculture and Commodities Division, WTO
- Jean-Marie Paugam Deputy Director General, World Trade Organization
- Antonia Marie De Meo Director, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI)
- Jeffrey Hardy Director General, Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT)
- Michael Keller Chair, International Agri-Food Network and Secretary General of the International Seed Federation (ISF)
- Michelle Catlin Chair, Electronic Working Group on Proposed Draft Guidelines on the Prevention and Control of Food Fraud, Codex Alimentarius Commission
12/12 Business Perspective Illicit Trade in Food and Food Fraud
- Moderator Carin Smaller Executive Director, Shamba Center for Food and Climate
- Sergio Fragoso Rodriguez Head, Brand Protection, Moët Hennessy
- Stefania Carpino Head , Guidance and Coordination of Research and Analytic activities of the ICQRF Laboratories, Ministry of Agriculture, Italy
- Lukasz Wozniacki Senior Manager, Trade & Anti-Counterfeit, CropLife Europe
- Tony Wright CEO, UMF Honey Association
- Rahel Heruy Managing Director , Damascene Essential Oils Processing, Ethiopia
12/12 Assessing Food Fraud in the Global Supply Chain
- Moderator Lauren Abda Co-Founder, Branch Venture Group
- Louise Manning Professor of , Sustainable Agri-food Systems, Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology, University of Lincoln, US
- Amit Khurana Director, Program Sustainable Food Systems, Center for Science and the Environment, New Delhi, India
- Iyiola Oluwakemi Owolabi Food Safety Expert, Quality Assurance Specialist, Burnbrae Farms, Winnipeg, Canada
- Enrico Valli Associate Professor, in Food Science and Technology, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Università di Bologna, Italy
- Gabrielle Marceau Senior Counsellor, WTO Economic Research and Statistic Division
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