From horse meat to seafood, food fraud is a growing problem worldwide. According to the World Customs Organization, food fraud is costing $49 billion annually. It is so lucrative, in fact, that drug cartels in South America and organized crime in Italy are involved in counterfeit groceries. Olive oil is recognized as the number one food product at risk of attracting the interest of organized crime. Crime syndicates are very stealth in keeping their schemes alive too – once one unlawful ingredient is detected, they move on to another. That makes it even harder for agencies trying to police the illegal trade, as they have to know what nefarious ingredient they are looking for in order to test for it.
