Food Fraud Prevention on the Road: A Summer Conference Recap

Summer conferences are more than a travel schedule — they are where I stress-test food fraud prevention ideas against real questions from peers. Here’s a recap of this season’s presentations, panels, and workshops, and an open invitation to connect at the next one.

Since I carry a heavy undergraduate business college, supply chain management teaching load at Michigan State University during the academic year, the summer conference season is my main opportunity to step back from day-to-day work and hear the broader food safety and food fraud trends directly from practitioners.

A Season of Presentations and Panels

These events are my recurring recalibration point: a chance to reconnect with colleagues, compare notes with peers wrestling with the same problems from different angles, and hear directly what practitioners are still struggling to solve. My schedule this past year included, in order:

1. MEHA (Michigan Environmental Health Association): I presented a keynote AI Adoption Workshop, followed by a breakout session on Food Fraud Prevention Trends and Food Document Fraud.
2. MDARD (Michigan Department of Agriculture, Food Protection Task Force): I participated in the workshop and activities alongside John Keogh and have been a regular member and presenter since 2005.
3. MSU Global Food Law Summer Conference: I co-presented Food Fraud Update & Legal and Regulatory Liability in the Food Supply Chain with Katie Zammit (Cargill).
4. Canadian Food Safety Summit: I presented Strengthening Food Fraud Prevention.
5. Food Safety Summit (FSS): I led the Food Fraud Prevention Certificate Workshop with Roy Fenoff (The Citadel) and Ryan Schollmeier (Grand Valley State University) and helped lead the AI Workshop Session.
6. Food Authenticity Network (FAN): I participated in a board meeting.
7. IFT (Institute of Food Technologists): I attended.
8. IAFP (International Association for Food Protection): I attended the full conference and participated in the Food Fraud, Packaging, and Food Defense Professional Development Groups, then presented Food Fraud Prevention: AI in Criminology and Supply Chain Mapping.

Beyond the conference circuit, I also led several webinars for training groups and companies, including the Accredited Certifiers Association (ACA) for organic certifiers and McDonald’s Global Food Safety suppliers and auditors.

Across these events, three themes stood out to me.

1. First, food document fraud is gaining sustained focus, coming up in nearly every session regardless of audience.
2. Second, our customers — the retailers and manufacturers we work with — are increasing their formal compliance reviews and expectations around food fraud prevention.
3. Third, training documentation requirements are becoming more formalized, driven largely by GFSI priorities for a stronger knowledge foundation.

Taken together, the season reminded me that food fraud prevention education happens as much in workshop rooms and hallway conversations as it does in formal publications. Each of these venues reaches a different audience, from state regulators to global food companies, and each conversation feeds back into how I shape training and prevention strategy going forward.

This summer’s conferences reflected the growing footprint of food fraud prevention across food safety, legal, and technology-focused programming alike.

Food Fraud Prevention Academy training and courses: https://foodfraudpreventionthinktank.com/food-fraud-prevention-academy/