Copyright! Reproduction and dissemination – also partial – applicable to all media only with written permission of Umschau Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH, Wiesbaden. „When convicted white-collar offenders are asked to explain their behavior, ...

… they frequently claim that their actions did

© ronstik/iStock/Thinkstock not harm anyone, and they have therefore done nothing wrong.”

(Coleman, 1987: 411)

DOI: 10.4455/eu.2016.040

The ideal victims? Consumers and economically motivated fraud Pamela Kerschke-Risch, Hamburg

Consumers can be damaged by food fraud – financially, physically or even psy- chologically. Although economically motivated fraud in the food sector is far from new, few consumers or politicians are aware of the state of the law. Moreover, there has been little sociological or criminological research on the victimisation1 of consumers. If we are to guarantee effective consumer protection, we must en- hance unannounced controls and establish appropriate punishments, so that ille- gal practices are no longer worthwhile to the perpetrator. We will show that there are unrecognised deficits in current knowledge.

This article is available online: 1 Victimisation means “to make a victim of”, so victimi- DOI: 10.4455/eu.2016/040 sation is the process of making a victim (from the Latin victima = victim).

192 Ernaehrungs Umschau international | 9/2016 Copyright! Reproduction and dissemination – also partial – applicable to all media only with written permission of Umschau Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH, Wiesbaden.

The problem

In 1986, the criminologist Nils though European must be foods are sold as having been bio- Christie coined the phrase of the regarded as very safe in interna- logically produced [21], in order “ideal victim” and illustrated it tional comparisons [8], the public to increase profits. with the example of an old lady is repeatedly alarmed by so-called who was robbed during the day “food scandals”. These may be in the middle of the street by a tall unintentional and be the result of Criminological and unknown man [1] when retur- a series of unfortunate events or sociological classification ning from visiting her sick sister. may arise due to a lack of due di- Ideal victims are then totally free ligence, as may be the case with In contrast to street or violent of guilt and appear to be morally microbial contamination, as in the crime, economic crime generally unassailable. This corresponds to case of or . But does not have the objective of conventional ideas about a “just it is also quite possible that they causing physical damage, but of world” [2, 3], so that she suf- result from illegal practices. bringing economic profit or avoi- fered harm without any element Since antiquity, food has been ding losses [4], which is also the of guilt at all, without any risky counterfeited or adulterated, in case for economically motivated behaviour. order to increase the profits of fraud in the food sector [11, 21]. The general view is that criminal producers or dealers. Hargin [9] actions primarily involve offences assumes that food has been coun- related to property or violence and terfeited since trading started. that the perpetrator and victim This is said to have been particu- are unambiguous. There is much larly the case for wine, tea, olive less public awareness or scientific oil and spices [10, 11]. Offences of research about economic crime, this sort have been known since although it can be assumed that the Middle Ages. For example, this involves more damage and bread was adulterated with chea- victims than in “classical crimina- per ingredients [10], and this was lity” [4]. sometimes severely punished – for example, by ducking the baker under water or in refuse for a Criminality in the short time using a special device food sector [12]. Accum [13] provided very detailed overviews of food adulte- Aside from a few exceptions such as ration in England in the 19th cen- Croall [5, 6], there has been little so- tury (• Figure 1). Wilson [10] also ciological or criminological research included a historical overview up on criminality in the food sector, to the present day. regarded as one form of economic Deceptive practices such as false crime. This is actually amazing, as information about origin or label- Fig. 1: Title page of Fredrick Accums‘ highly respected publication of 1820 (second edition) there have been counterfeiting and ling to increase profits apparently on food counterfeits adulteration for centuries and food have no direct effect on consu- (figure taken from: http://publicdomainreview.org/ is a fundamental need that concerns mer health and are probably ubi- collections/a-treatise-on-adulteration-of-food-and- culinary--1820/ access 17.07.17, in the public each individual, as there can be no quitous. Important examples of domain) life without food [7]. If we assume fraud with foods are shown in that we eat at least three times daily, the • Box. For example, (cheaper) we consume ca. 75,000–100,000 long corn rice is sold as (more ex- Although fraud in the food sector meals in the course of a lifetime, pensive) basmati rice [10, 19]. The is ubiquitous, as is evident in the so that each of us is a food con- American consumer protection most recent EUROPOL raids [22], sumer and a potential victim of ille- organisation ConsumerReports there have been few sociological gal practices in the food sector. assumes that as much as 25% of or criminological studies on this all fish and seafood products exhi- theme. Exceptions include the In our globalised world with its bit false information about their studies of Cheng [23] and Ghaza- international flows of goods, food origin [20] and that about the Teherani and Pontell [24], which safety is a great challenge. Al- same percentage of conventional analysed the Chinese

Ernaehrungs Umschau international | 9/2016 193 Copyright! Reproduction and dissemination – also partial – applicable to all media only with Special | Food Fraud written permission of Umschau Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH, Wiesbaden.

Important cases of fraud in the food sector One historical and spectacular case was the so-called brawn riot (Sülzeaufstand) in Hamburg at the beginning of the 20th century. A producer of products was accused of not only using spoilt meat, but even rats [14]. Another really dramatic case in 20th century Europe was the Spanish poisoned oil scandal of 1981, with 350–600 deaths and ca. 25,000 cases of damage to health, some in the long term [15].

There have been many other scandals, including the so-called “organic eggs scandal” in Germany in 2013, when millions of eggs from laying hens were sold as organic eggs, even though the hens had not been held in accor- dance with the strict guidelines of ecological husbandry. Instead of the normal commercial price for conventional- ly produced eggs, the producers were paid the higher price for organic goods [16].

Another incident involved -contaminated animal feed that was imported into Germany from Serbia in spring 2013. The aflatoxin levels in the feed greatly exceeded the EU limits, which are stricter than in Serbia [17]. The 2013 “ scandal” excited interest throughout Europe, as undeclared horse meat was found in Euro- pean countries in deep frozen beef products, such as and lasagne [18].

© Artistan/iStock/Thinkstock © Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg e. V. © mm88/iStock/Thinkstock

Known cases of food fraud extend back into antiquity, when, for example, wine and olive oil were adulterated. In Hamburg in 1919, there were even so-called “brawn riots” (Sülzeaufstand) due to spoilt and adulterated meat pro- ducts (mural in the Hamburg Consumer Central; Artist: Hildegund Schuster, Financial Support: Heinrich Stegemann Art Foundation). New cases of fraud include, for example, the so-called “horse meat scandal” of 2013, in which un- declared horse meat was found in deep frozen products.

milk scandal, which affected Chinese milk scandals. Because of chain. Thus, products can either be approximately 300,000 babies these ubiquitous crimes, which, on accidentally contaminated or the and infants and when at least six the one hand, may bring enormous producers may be unaware of the babies died. profits and, on the other hand, are precise origin of the raw materi- This economically motivated food linked to damage to consumers, als. Moreover, fresh products such fraud is a subcategory of food food chemists have tackled this as fruit and vegetables may not be fraud [25] that comes under eco- theme and continuously improved stored for as long as other goods, nomic crime. These offences have the methods to analyse the ori- but must be consumed at once, the characteristic that the motive gins, contents and contaminants so that there will subsequently be is economic profit or avoiding of foods. However, criminological hardly any proof [17]. losses and that damage to health research has hardly dealt with this In addition, human senses are is not the objective, but only an subject and has examined neither generally incapable of recogni- acceptable secondary consequence the perpetrators nor the conse- sing or determining contaminants [4]. However, it is always possible quences for the consumer. or origins. Flour from organic in principle that contaminated cereals looks exactly the same as or counterfeit food can damage In general, it is extremely difficult, conventional cereals; deep frozen health or, in the worst case, even or even impossible, to establish lasagne declared as beef, but con- be fatal [26]. whether food or animal feed are taining horse meat, tastes exactly Most cases of food fraud do not deliberately adulterated or counter- the same as the real thing. have such dramatic consequences feited, as this can in principle occur As offences related to food are ex- for health as the Spanish oil or the at all stages of the value creation tremely difficult to identify and

194 Ernaehrungs Umschau international | 9/2016 Copyright! Reproduction and dissemination – also partial – applicable to all media only with written permission of Umschau Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH, Wiesbaden.

many will be overlooked, the ac- an area that is existential for each tual scope and the damage caused of us. This has already been criti- are very difficult to assess. In ad- cised in part by Croall [5, 29]. dition, recognised offences are not Why is there so little awareness recorded separately in police sta- of the problem in research, in the = tistics, but there are no relevant police or in the population? One official statistics. reason may be that the great ma-

jority of consumers do not even © Krzysztof Krzyminski/Hemera/Thinkstock notice that they have been the Victims victim of fraud, as is the case for The actual extent, the resulting financial and health damage and the violation of confidence by food fraud Criminology typically under- a very wide variety of frauds. are difficult to assess – it is unclear what has been stands victims as persons who Consumers have to rely on the overlooked. suffer physical, financial or emo- information about a product’s tional damage. In violent crime, origin, the declaration of the in- the consequences are visible and gredients, the product label or the it is relatively easy to ascertain organic seal, as well as adherence from undeclared horsemeat re- any financial losses. The situation to thresholds for pollutants or sidues in ready-to-serve meals? is quite different with economic residues. Moreover, even This is made even more difficult crime, in which individual damage if fraud was recognised in relation in the individual case by the diffi- is mostly not so evident. There are to a product, it would be almost culty in deciding the proportion of additional special features in food impossible to determine the exact an illegal component in a specific fraud – a special class of economic individual damage, as this does product, the price difference be- crime. For example, there may be not have to be exclusively finan- tween the actual ingredient risks to health or uncertainties cial. and the declared ingredient and that influence consumption or The American consumer orga- whether and how the loss of con- eating behaviour. nisation ConsumerReports des- fidence should be assessed. Victimology is a sub-discipline of cribes the possible consequences criminology and generally deals of a fraudulent declaration. They with the effects of crime on the took fish as an example [20], al- Discussion victim. Large representative sur- though this also applies to other veys, such as the International products. The consequences may In food fraud – economically mo- Crime Victims Survey (ICVS) [27] be divided into three classes: tivated deception in the food sector or the Crime Survey for England • financial, if consumers are –, there is no bleeding victim as in and Wales [28] systematically given a cheaper sort, street criminality. Aside from the collect victims‘ direct and indi- • health, for example, if the rare cases in Europe with direct rect experiences and the fear of fish contains high levels of consequences, such as the Spanish criminality with respect to diffe- mercury, oil scandal and the adulterated al- rent offences; food fraud was not • in confidence, e.g. if they are cohol scandal in the Czech Repub- covered. On the basis of the known offered an endangered species, lic in 2012 [30], the consequences cases and the ubiquity of food which they would not have are indirect and no unambiguous fraud, it must be assumed that all purchased had it been correctly causal relationship can be estab- consumers have been the victim declared. lished between consumption and of illegal practices in the food sec- possible health problems. More- tor. There have however been no On the basis of media reports on over, the victims are at first glance criminological studies on possible food fraud, it may be assumed not the same type of victim as victimisation experiences and con- that individuals perceive these as the innocent “little old lady” in sequences for the consumer’s ac- a more or less abstract danger, Christie‘s 1986 example; the con- tions. Only cumulative effects are depending on the type, extent sequences are not so obvious and seen, e.g. as temporary decreases and subjective risk assessment, the consumers themselves are in the sales of the affected groups without being certain whether or often unaware of them. of foods. It is astonishing that al- to what extent they have been dam- However, consumers do react, as most nothing is known about the aged. For example, how should is regularly seen after food scan- individual victim’s perceptions, an individual determine his da- dals become common knowledge. evaluations, reactions or fears, as mage from antibiotic residues, The consumers then avoid the this lack of information concerns or perhaps the damage suffered products that have fallen into dis-

Ernaehrungs Umschau international | 9/2016 195 Copyright! Reproduction and dissemination – also partial – applicable to all media only with Special | Food Fraud written permission of Umschau Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH, Wiesbaden.

repute – either for a limited period yourself. But even then the res- References or permanently. Thus one study ponsibility is shifted to the po- found that food scandals are one tential victim, who must protect 1. Christie N. The ideal victim. In: Fattah EA motive for vegan nutrition and himself instead of being protected. (Hg). From crime policy to victim policy. Re- are said to be a reason to stop If we transfer this to the ideal in- orienting the justice system. Macmillen Press, eating meat or animal products nocent victim, the “little old lady” Basingstoke (1986), S. 17–30 [31]. she might be someone who kept 2. Lerner MG. The belief in a just world. A funda- As the perpetrator is almost al- conscientiously to such recom- mental delusion. Plenum Press, New York (1980) ways unknown and, even if iden- mendations, but was nevertheless 3. Pemberton A. Just-world victimology: Revisit- tified, will probably only have to defrauded. ing lerner in the study of victims of crime. In: pay a small fine, there is little risk Morosawa H, Dussich JJP, Kirchhoff GF (Hg). involved. On the other hand, de- Victimology and human security: New hor- frauded consumers often behave Dr. Pamela Kerschke-Risch, Dipl. Soz. izons. Wolf Legal Publishers, Nijmegen (2012), like victims of other crimes, in Universität Hamburg S.45–69 Fachbereich Sozialwissenschaften that they wonder if it was their E-Mail: [email protected] 4. Coleman JW (1987) Toward an integrated fault, rather than that of the per- theory of white collar-crime. Am J Sociol 93: petrator, in having been defrau- 406–439 ded. One reason given for the 5. Croall H (2009) White collar crime, consumers “accessory guilt” of the consumer and victimization. Crime Law Soc Change 51: is said to be due to the fact that 127–146 food prices in Germany are rela- 6. Croall H. Victims of white-collar and corpor- tively cheap in comparison to ate crime. In: Davies P, Frances P, Greer C (Hg). other countries and that, in com- Victims, crime and society: SAGE Publication parison to other countries, Ger- Ltd., London (2011) [2007], S. 78–108 man consumers are extremely 7. Simmel G (1910) Soziologie der Mahlzeit. Der economical when purchasing Zeitgeist. Beiblatt zum Berliner Tageblatt 41 food [32]. Even though pressure (vom 10.10.1910): 1–2 on food prices is certainly real, 8. Banati D (2014) European perspectives of food this is certainly not an argument safety. J Sci Food Agr 94: 1941–1946 to justify economically motiva- 9. Hargin KD (1996) Authenticity issues in meat ted fraud or to assign the custo- and meat products. Meat Sci 43: S277–S289 mer accessory guilt. As there has 10. Wilson B. Swindled: The dark history of food been food fraud for centuries and fraud, from poisoned candy to counterfeit coffee. highly priced goods such as olive Princeton University Press, Princeton (2008) oil and luxury products such as 11. Johnson R (2014) Food fraud and “economic- champagne and caviar are also ally motivated adulteration” of food and food adulterated or counterfeited, it is ingredients. Congressional Research Service. CRS wrong to blame the consumers, as Report 7-5700, S. 1–40. URL: www.fas.org/ they are, like the “little old lady”, sgp/crs/misc/R43358.pdf Zugriff 15.06.16 the ideal innocent victim, who has 12. Museum der Brotkultur UIm. Frage: Was to eat to live. waren Bäckerstrafen und welche Verord- The objective must therefore be nungen gab es für Bäcker? URL: www. to investigate the effects of illegal museum-brotkultur.de/pdf/13Verord practices in the food sector on the nungen%20und%20Strafen.pdf Zugriff consumer. This should include 15.06.16 the direct and indirect experien- 13. Accum F. A treatise on adulterations of food and ces of the victims, their fear of culinary poisons, exhibiting the fraudulent so- criminality, as well as possible phistications of bread, beer, wine, spirituous li- strategies to avoid risk. One sen- quors, tea, coffee, cream, confectionery, vinegar, sible recommendation, e.g. from mustard, pepper, cheese, olive oil, pickles, and Wilson [10], is to buy products other articles employed in domestic economy. that are as fresh and as unpro- And methods of detecting them. 2. Aufl., Lon- cessed as possible, ideally from the don (1820). URL: www.hps.cam.ac.uk/adhoc/ same region, from trustworthy treatise_on_adulterations.pdf Zugriff 14.06.16 traders and then to prepare them 14. Philipski S. Ernährungsnot und sozialer Protest:

196 Ernaehrungs Umschau international | 9/2016 Copyright! Reproduction and dissemination – also partial – applicable to all media only with written permission of Umschau Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH, Wiesbaden.

Die Sülzeunruhen 1919. Heraus- label said red snapper, the lab said baloney. file/350726/elliot-review-final-report- gegeben von der Heinrich-Kaufmann-Stiftung URL: www.consumerreports.org/cro/maga july2014.pdf Zugriff 20.06.16 des Zentralverbandes deutscher Konsum- zine-archive/2011/december/food/fake-fish/ 27. United Nations Interregional Crime and genossenschaften e. V. und dem Adolph von overview/index.htm?INTKEY=I95BEE0 Zugriff Justice Research Institute (UNICRI). ICVS – Elm Institut für Genossenschaftsgeschichte e. V. 22.06.16 International Crime Victims Survey. Data. Hamburg. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 21. Spiegel-Online, Teevs C. Lebensmittelskandal: URL: www.unicri.it/services/library_docu (2010) Wie der Bio-Pfusch funktioniert. (07.12.2011) mentation/publications/icvs/data/ Zugriff 15. Doeg C. Crisis management in the food and URL: www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/service/lebens 20.06.16 drinks industry. A practical approach. 2. Aufl., mittelskandal-wie-der-bio-pfusch-funktion 28. TNS BMRB. Crime Survey for England & Wales. Springer, New York (2005) iert-a-802245.html Zugriff 20.06.16 URL: www.crimesurvey.co.uk Zugriff 22.06.16 16. Spiegel-Online, Stanek J. Betrug am Ver- 22. Spiegel-Online. Gesundheitsrisiko: Euro- 29. Croall H (2010) Economic crime and victimol- braucher: Agrarbetriebe verkauften Millionen pol findet Rekordmenge gefälschter Le- ogy: a critical appraisal. JIDV 8: 169–183 falsch deklarierte Bio-Eier. (24.02.2013) bensmittel. (30.03.2016) URL: www. 30. Nejezchleba M. Tschechiens ungelöstes Problem: URL: www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/un spiegel.de/wirtschaft/service/europol-fin Tödlicher Methanol-Mix. (26.03.2013) URL: ternehmen/betrug-mit-bio-eiern-staatsan det-rekordmenge-gefaelschter-lebensmit www.spiegel.de/panorama/methanol-skan waltschaft-prueft-hunderte-agrarbe tel-a-1084739.html Zugriff 22.06.16 dal-in-tschechien-gepanschter-alkohol-fordert- triebe-a-885185.html Zugriff 16.06.16 23. Cheng H (2012) Cheap capitalism. A socio- weiter-tote-a-890478.html Zugriff 20.06.16 17. Kerschke-Risch P (2014) The aflatoxin-affair: logical study of food crime in China. Brit J 31. Kerschke-Risch P (2015) Vegan diet: motives, the invisible victims of crime in the food-sector. Criminol 52: 254–273 approach and duration. Initial results of a TEMIDA 17: 107–120 24. Ghazi-Tehrani AK, Pontell HN (2015) Corpor- quantitative sociological study. Ernahrungs 18. O’Mahony PJ (2013) Finding horse meat in ate crime and state legitimacy: the 2008 Chinese Umschau 62: 98–103 beef products – a global problem. Q J Med melamine milk scandal. Crime Law Soc Change 32. Die Welt, Kroker H (10.07.2012) Die 106: 595–597. URL: http://qjmed.oxford 63: 247–267 Deutschen lieben billiges Essen vom Dis- journals.org/content/qjmed/106/6/595.full. 25. Spink J, Moyer DC (2011) Defining the pub- counter. URL: www.welt.de/dieweltbe pdf Zugriff 20.06.16 lic health threat of food fraud. J Food Sci 76: wegen/nachhaltige-ernaehrung/arti 19. The Economist. A la Cartel. (25.03.2014) R157–R163 cle108216365/Die-Deutschen-lieben-billiges- URL: www.economist.com/news/brit 26. Elliot C (2014) Elliott review into the integrity Essen-vom-Discounter.html Zugriff 20.06.16 ain/21599028-organised-gangs-have-grow and assurance of food supply networks – final DOI: 10.4455/eu.2016.040 ing-appetite-food-crime-la-cartel Zugriff Report. A national food crime prevention frame- 22.06.16 work. July 2014. www.gov.uk/government/ 20. ConsumerReports (2011) Mystery fish. The uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/

Ernaehrungs Umschau international | 9/2016 197