Vocabulary: deception 词汇: 欺骗

Can you really know what's in your food?

Public trust in the food industry has been shaken recently after it came to light that some processed meat sold in British and Irish supermarkets as beef contained horsemeat.

The Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said: "At the moment this appears to be an issue of fraud and mislabelling." He's promised an investigation.

Food fraud is nothing new. Once upon a time, it might have been watered down beer or bread adulterated with sawdust.

Today, rising food prices, long supply chains and high mark ups on some foods have made deception easier and more profitable, according to BBC reporters Tom de Castella and Brian Wheeler, who've been covering the scandal.

Hundreds of tonnes of fraudulent food were seized in raids across Europe in December 2011. Operation Opson targeted ports, airports and businesses in 10 countries, including the UK.

Among the products seized were 13,000 bottles of substandard olive oil, 30 tonnes of fake tomato sauce and about 77,000 kg of counterfeit cheese.

More recently, a rise in fraud has made high value products like organic and free range particularly vulnerable. In one case, an Italian gang were jailed for selling organic soya beans which were found to have been treated with pesticides.

Stuart Shotton, of Food Chain Europe, which advises food manufacturers in compliance with safety laws, says: "As long as there are premium prices to pay for certain products, there will always be people out there looking to make a fast buck."

DNA testing has been useful in confirming if a product is authentic. But experts suggest that there might always be some doubt if a product is really what it claims to be.