Food fraud risks in seafood supply chain networks

Abstract

The global seafood industry plays a crucial role in the economy, diets and livelihoods of people worldwide. Seafood fraud, a pervasive and multifaceted issue, poses a significant threat to consumer trust, economic integrity and environmental sustainability of the global seafood industry. Empirical research that increases understanding of criminality in seafood supply chains can provide useful insights for the situational prevention of seafood fraud.
This thesis aims to answer two broad research questions.
1. What is the prevalence of global seafood fraud, and is the seafood industry structurally vulnerable to criminal activity in supply chain networks? Are there differences between product, food business operator characteristics, supply chain node, origin and fraud techniques?
2. How is seafood fraud organised and conducted? What opportunity structures enable fraud within the food industry, and how do they interact with motivational drivers and control measures?

Methods: The research takes the form of three independent but linked studies. Firstly, a prevalence study was conducted on three food fraud databases; the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, HorizonScan and Decernis’s Food Fraud Database, combined with media reports from Nexis to identify patterns and trends of reported fraud by species, supply chain node, country of origin and fraud type. Secondly, a vulnerability assessment was conducted on cod, prawn and salmon supply chains in UK businesses to determine differences in vulnerability by commodity, supply chain node, size, or certification status. Finally, a crime script analysis was conducted on ten large-scale seafood frauds using open-source intelligence to explore the actors, conditions, processes and resources required to conduct each crime and the opportunity structures that facilitated it.

Results and conclusion: The research findings from the studies highlight persistent issues in the seafood industry. Species adulteration, primarily from illegal veterinary residues, was most common in farmed products from India and Vietnam. Chain of custody abuse, especially regarding health certification and inspection upon import, was widespread. Certain fraud types were less prevalent than expected, depending on the source. Vulnerability analyses revealed technical opportunities for fraud as highly vulnerable. Prawns and shrimp, catfish and tilapia were the most susceptible commodities. The true scale of seafood fraud remains challenging to quantify, but large-scale frauds are evidenced across a wide variety of geographies, with Asia as the country of origin for the largest proportion of illicit products.
The research makes a key contribution by advancing the understanding of food fraud prevalence and vulnerability in seafood supply chain networks. Through a comprehensive analysis, it reveals the organisation and processes involved in food-related criminal activities and the factors that may lead to illicit practices. These findings enrich the comprehension of criminal behaviour in food supply chains and contribute to the application of robust research methods that can support the situational prevention of seafood fraud.

Date of Award	Jul 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Northern Ireland Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Saskia van Ruth (Supervisor) & Christopher Elliott (Supervisor)