Food Fraud Database Lets Us All Play Detective

By now we know that not every food is what it seems.

Beef might be horse meat, and tuna might be much cheaper escolar. Extra virgin olive oil is often nothing of the kind.

But if you really want to get paranoid, peek into the USP Food Fraud Database. It's a searchable trove of humankind's ceaseless efforts to swindle, hoodwink, and defraud with food, worldwide.

That's where I learned that hucksters sometimes use Sudan red dye to amp up paprika, which in its natural state is often a demure reddish brown. Sudan red is a potent carcinogen, banned for use in food worldwide. Eeek!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/26/175377244/food-fraud-database-lets-us-all-play-detective?ft=1&f=1001