Supermarket buyers’ culture aids fraudsters

Since horsegate broke early in 2013, several industry commentators have accused the cost-cutting practices of retailers, demanding ever lower prices from suppliers for products containing expensive ingredients such as beef, for creating an environment in which fraud could flourish.

While not suggesting that supermarket buyers were in any way complicit in the fraud that was exposed during horsegate, industry experts have argued that incentivising buyers to seek ever lower prices and prematurely moving them on to different portfolios, prevented some from asking “difficult questions”.​

Safe and legal ​

It can’t be just about purchasing products at the lowest price, said Carol Payne, retained senior consultant in the Strategic Consulting Group within NSF International. While supermarket buyers will inevitably be expected to seek the best prices, they must also source products that are safe and legal and that don’t involve corners being cut, she added.

“Those checks and balances need to be there,”​ said Payne. “How to identify where fraudulent activity could happen and who could be doing it.”​ This requires the right culture across organisations and the resources and training necessary for staff to identify potential problems, she added.

Payne, who in a previous role was group operational standards and audit director with Tesco, is now working with a specialist virtual team of consultants within NSF International to change the way food safety and fraud incidents are identified and prevented.

Address the failings ​

The Group is developing new management systems based on an evaluation of emerging risks, which are then tailored to the needs of companies. Following assessment of the food safety cultures within businesses, training is put in place to address the failings identified. “This is not easy stuff and it is not going to change overnight,”​ said Payne.

Emerging food safety and fraud risks will be discussed at Food Manufacture's one-day food safety conference: ‘Safe and legal food in a changing world’, which takes place on October 15 at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, Warwickshire. For more information click here.