Substitution is the most diverse form of intentional food adulteration, which includes the direct alteration of a part or whole food item or external addition of other inferior food products or fake nutritional compounds. The common forms of food substitution are discussed in the following section.
Substitution of fish species is the most practiced form of fish fraud. It refers to the replacement of a highly reputed fish species by a bad or inferior species. A commercially valuable fish species is substituted with a low-value, non-declared, and non-specified species to make extra profit and to compensate for high tariffs paid for some species. Crustaceans and high-quality shrimps are more prone to substitution due to their high market demand. The traditional method of species identification is morphological analysis; however, in the case of seafood, it is quite inefficient as those are phenotypically similar and their external body parts are often removed during processing. A risk of willful or unintentional substitution also prevails as visual specification becomes more difficult once fish has been processed into another form.
In the case of inter-species substitution, meats with similar color, such as beef and horse meat, beef and mutton, or poultry and pork are visually quite difficult to distinguish when frozen or processed into another form and shape. Sausage is one such processed meat product highly relished worldwide that is traditionally made from intestine or obtained synthetically. Though it can be made from beef, chicken, or pork, fraudulent substitution of species is also prevalent here. Minced meat, one of the most versatile meat products, used in hamburgers, patties, meatballs, sausages, and salami, is prone to frequent adulteration by substitution with other meat species. In this case, identification of meat species is very difficult as the morphological structure gets removed during mincing, and the adulterated minced meat appears very similar to the authentic product. The undeclared addition of animal tissue, such as collagen and offal, are also prevalent, which is profitable for the traders. Due to pork being cheaper and more readily available than other meat species, frequent substitution of other meat with porcine meat is reported.
The milk used to manufacture dairy products are usually derived from cow, sheep, goat, and buffalo. Cow milk is widely used both in developed and developing countries; however, there are incidents when cow milk is avoided due to allergenic reaction, religious restriction, ethical or cultural issues, personal preference, and impudence for certain food products. Fraudulent substitution of other expensive milk with cow milk is very common. She-donkey milk, possessing high commercial value, is often substituted by cow or goat milk. People with allergenic problems to cow milk prefer caprine milk due to its being easily digestible and containing low lactose content. Another example of malpractice is representing bovine milk as caprine milk. Fraudulent replacement of sheep and goat milk with cheaper cow milk is also reported. Replacement of fresh cow milk with reconstituted skim milk powder due to the popularity of cow milk is also reported.
Traditional cheese products, such as feta, manchego, and pecorino are manufactured from the mixture of ovine and caprine milk or solely ovine milk. However, the seasonal production and higher price of ovine and caprine milk make those cheese items prone to substitution by cheap bovine milk. Cheese products labelled as “pure buffalo mozzarella” are often found to contain cow milk. Cheese products made from one pure species and with protected designation of origin are rarely proved authentic and should be monitored from time to time.
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