While it’s easy enough to imagine fake ingredients in processed or manufactured food, one would think that fresh, natural foods – such as chicken meat and eggs – cannot be corrupted. Sadly, though, food fraud can also rear its ugly head in our industry.
By Charmain Lines
SAPA urges everyone involved in the poultry industry to play an active role in preventing and reporting food fraud.
There is no single definition of food fraud, but bodies like the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) agree that it is any action taken with the intention of deceiving customers about the identity, quality and composition of food products for financial gain. Food fraud is not human error or an honest mistake: it is deliberate dishonesty to make more money.
It is difficult to calculate how much money the global food industry loses to food fraud, but those in the know estimate it costs producers around US$40 billion (R660 billion) per year.
Food-fraud scams include producing counterfeit foodstuffs that imitate popular recipes or brands; adding undeclared materials to food; diluting or substituting high-value ingredients with lower-value ones; concealing poor-quality ingredients; and mislabelling. Food fraud costs consumers money, harms international trade and jeopardises public health and safety.
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Food-industry scams
A case in point made headlines in Canada towards the end of 2025 when Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC) briefed the country’s parliament on the impact that spent-fowl fraud has on the industry and the economy.
The fraud happens because Canada has import controls on broiler meat but not on spent hens (what we call the cull trade). Criminal importers fraudulently label broiler meat as spent fowl in order to circumvent the tariffs that apply to chicken exported to Canada from the US.
According to CFC estimates at the time, about 45 million kilograms of illegal imports or “very questionable production” would have entered Canada by the end of 2025. In economic terms, the 45 million kilograms displaced from Canadian production would translate into about 3 600 jobs, CA$394 million (R4.5 billion) in GDP losses and CA$129 million (R1.5 billion) in taxes.
In addition, the fact that fraudulently labelled meat cannot be traced poses a serious food-safety risk to consumers.
While this example is unique to Canada – it is the only country whose import tariffs distinguish between spent hens and broiler meat – food fraud when it comes to international trade certainly is not.
In 2021, for instance, a case of so-called roundtripping of imported chicken between SA and neighbouring countries involving products valued at R100 million, was brought to court.
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In our backyard
But food fraud in the poultry industry can take other forms as well. These include dishonest producers (or retailers) falsely claiming that broilers or layers eat vegetarian or additive-free feed, or that meat or eggs are free range or antibiotic free when producers don’t meet the relevant standards or certification criteria across all operations.
Misrepresentation of product status, such as selling previously frozen product as fresh without clearly disclosing it, is also an issue, along with undeclared changes to products that affect weight, composition or shelf life. A related problem is inaccurate or misleading labelling, especially when ingredients and substitutions are not declared.
“It is important to note that these examples are risk areas that the industry recognises, rather than specific allegations,” says Izaak Breitenbach, CEO of SAPA’s Broiler Organisation. “They highlight why strong controls and oversight are essential throughout the supply chain.”
He adds, “When you ask consumers to trust you and have confidence in your products, you have to fulfil your promises every step of the way, and in every corner of the business. As an industry, we have to do all we can to make sure our own practices are always above board, and that we hold others in our supply chain to equally high standards.”
Fighting fraud
These days, all established food producers achieve these objectives through, among other measures, food-fraud policies. As a formal framework for preventing, detecting and responding to intentional food-integrity risks, a food-fraud policy helps food businesses to remain credible and resilient in an increasingly complex and scrutinised marketplace.
“We must do all we can do to ensure our practices and those of others in our supply chain are above board.”
Food-fraud prevention is now a baseline requirement for food producers that want to operate under certification schemes benchmarked against the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). As a result, most large- and medium-scale food manufacturers across the world must have formal vulnerability assessments, policies and controls related to food fraud in place as part of their normal food-safety and governance practices.
But, says Breitenbach, it really is about culture. “We want every person involved in the poultry industry to play an active role in preventing and reporting food fraud. The purpose is to embed integrity and responsibility into every business decision, every day.”
This article first appeared in Poultry Bulletin (Issue 33) August/September 2026 and is republished with permission. Click the cover below for the full edition.
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