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1. olive oil - 69% is oil that has been brought into Italy and then exported
2. honey - avoid any honey that has added sucrose or high fructose corn syrup. A counterfeit ring in China was exporting honey that was labeled White Korean Honey which, in fact, was anything but honey.
3. fish - The main form of seafood fraud is mislabeling: a cheaper fish passed off as a more expensive one. The major offenders involve fish with ugly names masquerading as their prettier-sounding, pricier counterparts (toothfish for Chilean sea bass; escolar as white tuna; threadfin slickhead as Alaskan cod), and in a study conducted between 2010 and 2012, ocean conservation organization Oceana found that every single sushi restaurant tested in New York carried mislabeled fish. Not only does this mean the customer overpays, but the fish that end up on the plate are often ones you wouldn't want to eat in the first place. Escolar, which often shows up instead of tuna, contains histamines that can cause very disturbing side effects—think diarrhea, but oilier. The FDA currentlyadvises against "importation and interstate marketing" of escolar, and the fish is flat-out banned in Japan and Italy. To guard against seafood fraud, watch out for snapper and tuna, the most defrauded varieties.
4. scallops - Seafood fraud is rampant, as we've seen, but a special case exists for so-called scallops that might actually be rays, skate, or shark that have been sectioned up by a cookie cutter. Instances of scallop fraud have largely been relegated to the dark realm of Internet message boards, so it's unclear how often this substitution takes place, if at all. While it is decidedly less gross than the dreaded pork-bung calamari, the prospect of cookie-cuttered scallops is still capable of inducing major cringes.
5. balsamic vinegar - Traditional balsamic vinegar is aged in oak casks for years and, like wine, must adhere to strict codes. But after drizzles of balsamic vinegar reduction found their way to every restaurant table, the market became, very literally, diluted. Don't be fooled if the bottle says "Modena" (as in, the Italian city known for balsamic). For the real high-end stuff, look for "grape must" in the ingredient list or the designation Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, which will guarantee the vinegar has been aged at least 12 years.
6. saffron - Real saffron is made from the stigma of the saffron crocus and costs upwards of $2,000 a pound. Reports have found all sorts of dried flowers masquerading as the spice, even dyed onion. How to keep from getting conned? Buy saffron in whole threads, which are much more difficult to fake.
7. vanilla - Synthetic vanillin often sneaks into extracts claiming to be pure.
8. coffee - Ground coffee can easily be bolstered by anything powdered and brown, coffee husks if you're a lucky dupe, or even twigs, roasted corn, or ground-up toasted parchment paper. This is just one more reason to buy your coffee whole
9. cinnamon - Most of the cinnamon sold in the U.S. is cassia, not cinnamon. Cassia, grown mainly in Vietnam or China, is related to Ceylon, which is considered the "real" cinnamon. The cassia bark is hotter and more abrasive than the lighter, more aromatic Ceylon. The sticks are fairly easy to tell apart—Ceylon quills are composed of many paper-thin layers rolled up, while Cassia is a single sheet of bark—but once the "cinnamon" is ground, the anonymous brown dust might be neither Ceylon nor Cassia but something else entirely. Look for Ceylon cinnamon.
10. black pepper - Researchers have found papaya seeds, juniper berries, pepper stems, and chaff all lurking in what claims to be black pepper. As with coffee, it's always better to go whole.
11. caviar - The biggest caviar con artist spent 23 years running from authorities until he was busted a year ago for engineering a tax-evasion scheme that enabled him to pass off low-end caviar as the good stuff to high-paying customers on airlines and cruise ships. The judge declared it "a victimless crime," because no one got sick and the caviar was still pretty good, but like any rare, covetable food, caviar fraud is still rampant. Often it's the case that low-grade domestic caviars are sold as fancy imported varieties. In a lovely reversal of the ol' bait and switch, however, some of the best (and real) caviar is actually coming out of Kentucky.
12. milk - Since the Great Chinese Infant Formula Debacle of 2008, when 54,000 infants were sickened and six died from milk tainted with melamine, there have been even more reports of milk containing melamine or even detergent or hydrogen peroxide. To keep from stirring cleaning product in with your morning cereal, read the ingredients. Don't touch imported milk powder with a ten-foot pole, buy from a local farm if possible, or just make one of our nut milks and avoid the whole thing altogether.
13. juice - No sooner had pomegranate juice become the Next Big Superfood than someone figured out how to fake it. Areport released last year by the Food Fraud Database showed that many juices are bolstered with other juices, and some were found to contain no pomegranate juice at all.
14. mystery meat - The stuff of school cafeterias has caused many a nightmare, but in real life, mystery meat is way scarier than a lumpy stew. Meat fraud includes all sorts of industry sins: horse meat masquerading as ground beef; fox meat pretending to be donkey. Luckily, most cases have occurred outside the U.S., but even the threat of fox meat is enough to make you want to form a close relationship with your butcher.
15. wine - Another much-faked luxury good that has a hard time garnering sympathy, counterfeit wine has taken its place in the spotlight following last month's conviction of the most notorious counterfeiter, Rudy Kurniawan (or at least the biggest one who's been caught), with a "thriller" documentary on the way. Wine fraud most commonly involves bottling average wine under a prestigious label, or passing off a lesser vintage for one that is known to fetch high prices. Experts estimate that five percent of wines sold are fake, resulting in $250 million loss for U.S. businesses.
2. honey - avoid any honey that has added sucrose or high fructose corn syrup. A counterfeit ring in China was exporting honey that was labeled White Korean Honey which, in fact, was anything but honey.
3. fish - The main form of seafood fraud is mislabeling: a cheaper fish passed off as a more expensive one. The major offenders involve fish with ugly names masquerading as their prettier-sounding, pricier counterparts (toothfish for Chilean sea bass; escolar as white tuna; threadfin slickhead as Alaskan cod), and in a study conducted between 2010 and 2012, ocean conservation organization Oceana found that every single sushi restaurant tested in New York carried mislabeled fish. Not only does this mean the customer overpays, but the fish that end up on the plate are often ones you wouldn't want to eat in the first place. Escolar, which often shows up instead of tuna, contains histamines that can cause very disturbing side effects—think diarrhea, but oilier. The FDA currentlyadvises against "importation and interstate marketing" of escolar, and the fish is flat-out banned in Japan and Italy. To guard against seafood fraud, watch out for snapper and tuna, the most defrauded varieties.
4. scallops - Seafood fraud is rampant, as we've seen, but a special case exists for so-called scallops that might actually be rays, skate, or shark that have been sectioned up by a cookie cutter. Instances of scallop fraud have largely been relegated to the dark realm of Internet message boards, so it's unclear how often this substitution takes place, if at all. While it is decidedly less gross than the dreaded pork-bung calamari, the prospect of cookie-cuttered scallops is still capable of inducing major cringes.
5. balsamic vinegar - Traditional balsamic vinegar is aged in oak casks for years and, like wine, must adhere to strict codes. But after drizzles of balsamic vinegar reduction found their way to every restaurant table, the market became, very literally, diluted. Don't be fooled if the bottle says "Modena" (as in, the Italian city known for balsamic). For the real high-end stuff, look for "grape must" in the ingredient list or the designation Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, which will guarantee the vinegar has been aged at least 12 years.
6. saffron - Real saffron is made from the stigma of the saffron crocus and costs upwards of $2,000 a pound. Reports have found all sorts of dried flowers masquerading as the spice, even dyed onion. How to keep from getting conned? Buy saffron in whole threads, which are much more difficult to fake.
7. vanilla - Synthetic vanillin often sneaks into extracts claiming to be pure.
8. coffee - Ground coffee can easily be bolstered by anything powdered and brown, coffee husks if you're a lucky dupe, or even twigs, roasted corn, or ground-up toasted parchment paper. This is just one more reason to buy your coffee whole
9. cinnamon - Most of the cinnamon sold in the U.S. is cassia, not cinnamon. Cassia, grown mainly in Vietnam or China, is related to Ceylon, which is considered the "real" cinnamon. The cassia bark is hotter and more abrasive than the lighter, more aromatic Ceylon. The sticks are fairly easy to tell apart—Ceylon quills are composed of many paper-thin layers rolled up, while Cassia is a single sheet of bark—but once the "cinnamon" is ground, the anonymous brown dust might be neither Ceylon nor Cassia but something else entirely. Look for Ceylon cinnamon.
10. black pepper - Researchers have found papaya seeds, juniper berries, pepper stems, and chaff all lurking in what claims to be black pepper. As with coffee, it's always better to go whole.
11. caviar - The biggest caviar con artist spent 23 years running from authorities until he was busted a year ago for engineering a tax-evasion scheme that enabled him to pass off low-end caviar as the good stuff to high-paying customers on airlines and cruise ships. The judge declared it "a victimless crime," because no one got sick and the caviar was still pretty good, but like any rare, covetable food, caviar fraud is still rampant. Often it's the case that low-grade domestic caviars are sold as fancy imported varieties. In a lovely reversal of the ol' bait and switch, however, some of the best (and real) caviar is actually coming out of Kentucky.
12. milk - Since the Great Chinese Infant Formula Debacle of 2008, when 54,000 infants were sickened and six died from milk tainted with melamine, there have been even more reports of milk containing melamine or even detergent or hydrogen peroxide. To keep from stirring cleaning product in with your morning cereal, read the ingredients. Don't touch imported milk powder with a ten-foot pole, buy from a local farm if possible, or just make one of our nut milks and avoid the whole thing altogether.
13. juice - No sooner had pomegranate juice become the Next Big Superfood than someone figured out how to fake it. Areport released last year by the Food Fraud Database showed that many juices are bolstered with other juices, and some were found to contain no pomegranate juice at all.
14. mystery meat - The stuff of school cafeterias has caused many a nightmare, but in real life, mystery meat is way scarier than a lumpy stew. Meat fraud includes all sorts of industry sins: horse meat masquerading as ground beef; fox meat pretending to be donkey. Luckily, most cases have occurred outside the U.S., but even the threat of fox meat is enough to make you want to form a close relationship with your butcher.
15. wine - Another much-faked luxury good that has a hard time garnering sympathy, counterfeit wine has taken its place in the spotlight following last month's conviction of the most notorious counterfeiter, Rudy Kurniawan (or at least the biggest one who's been caught), with a "thriller" documentary on the way. Wine fraud most commonly involves bottling average wine under a prestigious label, or passing off a lesser vintage for one that is known to fetch high prices. Experts estimate that five percent of wines sold are fake, resulting in $250 million loss for U.S. businesses.
