Food fraud!

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 10:57 am

From tha CBC Day 6 website: The big cash in counterfeit food: why you might not be eating what you think you're eating

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-27 ... -1.3515053

You can listen to the radio clip at the above site or read a write up of it.

Here's a quote" Elliott also says fraudsters are starting to fake local foods, with the best example being that of Manuka honey.The honey, produced exclusively in New Zealand, is considered the best-tasting in the world - and carries a price tag to match. But according to one study, "it turned out that there was more Manuka honey being sold in the United Kingdom alone than was being produced in the entire country of New Zealand," he says."

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 12:46 pm

Why am I not surprised?
And the other day I was reading that they colour the commercial egg yolks now with pseudo-synthetic carotene pigments in the feed. No need to feed actual plant material any more. :-/

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 1:09 pm

To be honest I am not surprised by some of it: i.e. jamaican blue mountain or Hawaiin Kona coffee is $50 per pound, heck it'd be easy to mix in a few beans of something else and get away with it. But its the industrial scale of it, and the criminal gangs who profit, while the farmer gets shafted. At the grocery store today "organic" coconut milk 20% ($1 per can) more expensive than the regular stuff. And i am certail ALL coconut is organic, the trees grow like a weed if you have heat and water.

So I did a bit of digging and found this on peanuts and almonds being mixed with cumin being a big problem due to a very poor harvest for cumin in India. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 45725.html

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 1:43 pm

baronrenfrew wrote:QR_BBPOST To be honest I am not surprised by some of it: i.e. jamaican blue mountain or Hawaiin Kona coffee is $50 per pound, heck it'd be easy to mix in a few beans of something else and get away with it. But its the industrial scale of it, and the criminal gangs who profit, while the farmer gets shafted. At the grocery store today "organic" coconut milk 20% ($1 per can) more expensive than the regular stuff. And i am certail ALL coconut is organic, the trees grow like a weed if you have heat and water.

So I did a bit of digging and found this on peanuts and almonds being mixed with cumin being a big problem due to a very poor harvest for cumin in India. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 45725.html

That's odd, I don't know how they could fake Cumin with almonds or peanuts. I buy the seeds whole so it would be tough to fake those.
And, horsemeat scandal? I didn't go there........ and I saw the touristy bit on the link where they are trying to entice Brits to visit remote Northern Ontario. But they didn't mention that these misty clouds are not fog, they are blackflies.

SandyM · Post by **SandyM** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 5:41 pm

SandyM · Post by **SandyM** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 5:43 pm

baronrenfrew wrote:QR_BBPOST To be honest I am not surprised by some of it: i.e. jamaican blue mountain or Hawaiin Kona coffee is $50 per pound, heck it'd be easy to mix in a few beans of something else and get away with it. But its the industrial scale of it, and the criminal gangs who profit, while the farmer gets shafted. At the grocery store today "organic" coconut milk 20% ($1 per can) more expensive than the regular stuff. And i am certail ALL coconut is organic, the trees grow like a weed if you have heat and water.

So I did a bit of digging and found this on peanuts and almonds being mixed with cumin being a big problem due to a very poor harvest for cumin in India. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 45725.html

Same goes for olive oil. They are saying that some companies mix in canola or another oil to dilute it.

Mixing peanuts or nuts into anything is extremely alarming for us over here and for anyone who is anaphylactic to them.

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 6:10 pm

Olive oil? Its a huge racket: $8 to $40 per litre, everything from Italy when there's lots of good stuff from all over the place. Yeah right, a lot is mixed with cheaper oils, or poor quality, or not from where it should be from.

We buy an oil at the grocery store from Tunisia. Long story short, the most "honest" and quality oil is all oils at Costco, or buy an oil in a dark bottle and it must have a "pressed on" date and not a "best before" date.

Worth a quick read: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_Virginity

Of course this guy was interviewed, or was it a one hour special, on CBC radio.

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 6:24 pm

The dark bottle protects the oil from light which damages the contents (same as beer). Note the top stamp a P which is pressed date.

And there's a lawsuit against the big brands for being dishonest, Bertolli is named.
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/ol ... -1.3125860

Sheesh, now I'm reading up on it: here's more http://www.cbc.ca/books/mobile/touch/20 ... ost-2.html

Here's a quote from the CBC review, "For example, did you know that olive oil is the most adulterated substance in the European Union? Because of that, and some lax enforcement in North America, the stuff you see on supermarket shelves may not be exactly as advertised. "Cold-pressed" could mean that industrial solvents were used to remove the last drops of oil from olive waste. "Extra virgin," meanwhile, could mean something altogether unmentionable."

SandyM · Post by **SandyM** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 7:44 pm

Costco has an organic non-filtered extra virgin olive oil, in a glass. Absolutely the best stuff I've ever had and tastes nothing like bertoilli or similar brands. My luck it will be a knock off Lol.

Brebis · Post by **Brebis** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 9:14 pm

The best olive oil I've had is from my dad's family village in the southern part of Greece. It is creamy and almost tastes a bit like honey, mmmmm! And the olives from there too aren't like any you can get here.

My relatives would get a fall shipment of oil and olives and distribute it to the family but sadly they don't do it any more...how I miss it!