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The Food Chain

Factual: Food & Drink

Examining what it takes to put food on your plate

The Food Chain examines the business, science and cultural significance of food, and what it takes to put food on your plate.

Is the food you’re eating what you think it is?

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The Food Chain: Is the food you’re eating what you think it is?

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18/05/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - The Food Chain, Is the food you’re eating what you think it is?

A visit to a spice testing lab reveals how fraudsters tamper with food to make money

How can you be sure you’re eating what you think you’re eating? In most cases, food fraud won’t make you ill, but you won’t be getting quite what you’re paying for. 
 
In this programme, Ruth Alexander hears why high food prices and the war in Ukraine mean food fraud is more likely to happen. She visits a laboratory in Belfast in Northern Ireland, where food products are analysed to sort what’s real and what’s fake, and she speaks to a food fraud investigator who tells us just how difficult it is to stop the criminals.
 
And we hear from a spice market in Delhi where vendors and shoppers tell us how they try to avoid fake products. 
 

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk 

Producer: Elisabeth Mahy

(Image: A row of jars of spices, but the one in the middle is highlighted. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

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